All is quiet at the Internado. I took Rachel to the bus place this morning. I would say station but its more where they just park the bus. She is going back to La Paz in an attempt to resolve some residency issues. That makes me the only Greengo at the Internado. I think it will be good for me. It will force me to use Spanish and not rely on Rachel the Translator. All but a few of the students have gone home for Holy Week and it is frightenly quiet around the home. I think Mateo and I will begin building the stove either this afternoon or in the morning sometime. I have to admit the readings on it are a little intimidating, especially all the calculations. I wish history was somehow involved and not math. I guess that would be a weird stove though. Anyway, I ask that you pray for the project and we receive understanding so that the internado can have a new, hopefully more efficient Winiarski Pot Slip stove, 2008 edition. – Jarred

We received our February Journal’s from the printer today. If you’re on our mailing list, you should have already received yours or be receiving it soon. Are you not receiving the Journal and would like to be on our mailing list? You can send your name and address to Marie Lanier, lanierm@sifat.org, to receive a printed Journal, or you can sign up for our e-Journal by sending a blank e-mail with the word SUBSCRIBE as the subject to info@sifat.org.

***Correction*** Please note that the Sarah Trust Fund thermometer was incorrect in this month’s Journal. The correct amount should have been $113,430 for February 2008. ***

To download a PDF copy of the SIFAT Journal, click here, or go to the news section of the website.

Monday morning we left to go finish the well Teo, Darwin, Benito, Teos son, Don Juan, and myself. We planned to camp for one night or so. We got to the drill sight unloaded our stuff and started cleaning out the hole. You have to clean the hole of all the stuff that has settled before making progress down. At about eleven it started raining. So we breaked and were gonna start back when the rain stopped. Meanwhile we all huddled under a ten by ten tarp. Well the rain did not stop until about five that night. We ran to the house at about three thirty to start supper ,and the house was flooded. We had tents to sleep in but no dry ground, but Teo has a small house at his homestead about a half a mile or more away to we walked over there after eating supper at about fourt thirty to go to sleep. We arrived at Teos house and we realized that his house could only accomodate one tent and we needed tents because the bugs and such. Being the largest and the one who understands the least I was choosen to sleep outside in a tent. I didnt think much of it I have camped several times and was kinda excited. I put a tarp down and then the tent on it and immediately water soaked through into the tent, But Mr. Terry packed six tents for some reason so I put two more under what would be mine and benitos and it was dry. We doubled the Tarp over the top of the tent that was missing a pole and falling down and it was good. It was the uglyest shelter I have ever seen, but it was dry. We went to bed at about six. The next day was great we got a lot done and I cant remember what our depth was that day but it was a good day. We woke up this morning and just needed four meters of sand to case it and get home. We finally hit sand at about eleven and then were about to case at about five. In this well we; Broke the top handle seven times, Lost the rig and fished it out from thirty meters twice, got the rig stuck and had to winch it out once, broke the rope once, ate rice seven times, dropped a threader in the drill shaft once (by we on this one I mean I dropped threader in the drill shaft). We finally cased it at 175 ft or so.  Its crazy to think so deep with a six meter steel pipe and the rest PVC all by hand.  It was a great three days.  I talked to God a lot because their was no one to talk to in english.  I also probably learned more spanish than I have my entire time here.  Three days no english is harder than I thought but my spanish was pretty good by day three.  It was a blast…kinda…ha. -Addison-

I guess about two weeks ago now, we were on our way to Santa Cruz via La Paz. Every Sunday and Thursday, there is a big market in El Alto, a large suburb if you will of La Paz. We were going to look for supplies in the market and I think Rachel asked Cristina, Mateo´s sister-in-law to accompany us. Anyway, Cristina lives next to Mateo´s mother, whose name I cannot pronounce or spell. Mateo´s parents own a small store that sells snacks and bread made fresh every morning. We came into the store and found his mother there. She burst into tears and started saying things I dont think Bolivians could understand. I immediately felt uncomfortable. She gave each of us a huge hug and thanked us for coming to visit. She said, ¨Come! Come!¨ She took us back to where the family makes bread each day. She told us to sit, and that we did. We listened to Mateo´s father talk for a while until his mother came back with a wide smile and told us to follow her. She told us took us into the kitchen, which is separate from everything else. She said, ¨Sit! Sit!. She thanked us again for coming to visit. The whole time I was wondering if she thought we were someone else. Although we had eaten breakfast just an hour before, she begged us to eat an egg sandwhich and have some coffee. I am not sure how old she is. Maybe mid 60s. But, she was literally skipping from the table to the stove to turn the eggs in her skillet. She brought the eggs over to the table, sliced open the bread, and said, ¨Eat! Eat!¨Yeah she said everything twice. Then she said, ¨Teach me! Teach me English so I can say Eat! Eat!¨. I still had the first bite of an egg sandwhich that I didnt really want in my mouth when Rachel said, ¨we are going to pray¨. I stopped chewing and bowed my head only to raise it back up almost immediately after she had begun to pray. Her prayer was muffled by a constant stream of tears flowing down her face. The only words I understood was ¨Holy Jesus, Thank You!¨. That was all I need to hear. I have thought about that prayer at least once everyday since then. I knew at the time there was more to the prayer than what appeared on the surface and that I needed time to think about it. Near the beginning of our time in Ixiamas, I asked the pastor what his favorite book of the Bible is. I found it interesting when he said Ephesians, not the normal reply of John, Romans, or 1st Corinthians. I read it and a verse in Ephesians 3 stuck out to me. Mateo´s mom lives this verse. The verse talks about a love beyond knowledge, and recognizing how deep, wide, long, and high the love of God is. I realized I had never literally cried out to God in thanksgiving, even moreso because strangers came to visit me. I asked Rachel about her and she said Mateo said she is like that all of the time. Then I thought, ¨oh. Well it probably wasnt that big of a deal.¨Then I though, ¨Wait, that makes it an even bigger deal! She lives her life with an open love for God and his children.¨ You can´t know love unless you experience it. As the verse says, it is beyond knowledge. Love is not a feeling, it is an action. A verb, not a noun. If service is love, than I have not loved at times when I had a clear opportunity to serve. And if I did, it was not in a manner as what I believe Jesus would have wanted it to be.- Jarred

 

Rachel, Mateo´s brother Felix, his son Israel, his brother-in-law Marco, and I left La Paz yesterday morning at 630 am. We made excellent time all the way to Sapecho. A 10 or so hour trip in a bus, we made it in less than 7. Right outside of Sapecho, we had to wait an hour while cargo trucks took turns pulling eachother out of the mud. I said to Rachel, ´´Barring any other road problems, we can be in Rurrenabaque by midnight.¨ I thought maybe we could have eaten lunch the next day in Ixiamas. Little did I know we would not get back until 730 tonight. About 10 miles from the middle of nowhere, we came upon a line of cargo trucks stopped on a muddy incline. A floata had gotten stuck in the mud and could not move. I guess this was about 8 pm. I think the bus finally got out at around 10. I thought, ok, maybe we can be RRBAKE by 2 am. Nope. We werent able to get through until around 7 am this morning. The five of us slept in the truck we were bringing from La Paz. The four guys slept in the cab and Rachel got the lady´s suite. (in the back of the truck under a tarp.) I was beyond frustrated.It was definitely a lesson in patience and flexibility. When a man on a tractor fixed the road around 7am, it took him 5 minutes. I shook my head sideways and laughed. Anyway, its great to be back in Ixiamas. I was bombarded with a barage of hugs from the kids and fast words I couldnt understand. We are going out to the Chaco again tomorrow to harvest some more rice. You can say we provide job security for Snap, Crackle, and Pop.