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

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.

Yesterday was good we woke up and Mr. Terry decided that he just needed to send us in to camp because the rain had been so bad…it usually is about a fourty five min drive to the drill sight that is not far away ,but because the roads are so bad it takes a while.  We got everything ready to leave and we headed off.  Mr. Terry stayed behind because he needed to hold down the Waller compound.  Me, Teo, and four other boys that Mr. Terry hired left and it very soon started raining.  We made the call to give it a try.  We got about fifteen min then it started raining harder to Teo who was driving decided  with the rest of us we should not continue because if we got the truck stuck then that would be a long walk back home.  The road is narrow so we did not really have a place to turn around so we just sat there.  No one but me spoke english and though my spanish is not bad I had a hard time explaining to Teo that I didnt think the rain was going to stop and we prolly needed to try and turn around.  I was unsuccessful in this attempt, so we sat in the middle of the road for an hour waiting for the rain to stop I napped and thought about life and so on and so forth.  Finally a truck coming the other direction made it were we had to move our truck and then leading to us turning around and heading back.  Me and Teo spent the rest of the day making our pump station mold out of concrete.  It was a good day.

We woke up this morining and it was raining again so we could not go drill.  We are going to go on Monday and camp I think.  Me and Mr. Terry went fishing last night a block from the house with his cast net.  There is a really low area that fills up with water and so we were about to throw from the road and actually caught some small fish.  This morning we found out that at  that same time we were fishing about three blocks away there was a lynching of a young man here in San Julian.  I am telling this not for anyone to feel sorry, or for anyone to think that we are in danger ,or for a good story ,but simply because prayer is needed.  I dont really know much but listening to Mr. Terry talk who has lived here for seventeen years it sounds pretty bad.  This is the tenth lynching this year in Bolivia.  So pray for the people of this country, and for that matter the people of the states and the world.

-Addison

So someone has got to tell the real story of what happened to Mr. Jarred Griffin.  It was a warm morning in March a crew had gone out to drill and on the way had stopped to check out a model homestead.  Upon arrival we all noticed the two rather large windmills that soared over the property.  Upon further inspection my counterpart ,Jarred, noticed a small litter of kittens stuck at the very top of the windmill.  Being the brave soul he is he knew it was his right no his obligation no his duty as a human being and more importantly as a Christian to save these lost creatures from certian death.  He began his free climb with nothing more than a used match, and pair of dirty socks and his camera just because it happened to be in his hand at the moment of need.  Being a speedy climber he made such good time that he was able to stop half way up for a wonderful kodak moment.  After a few photos he continued on up making quick work for what would have taken a normal person three days.  Upon reaching the summit he summoned the fourteen kittens upon his back and prepared for a quick decent when he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye two eagle wasps heading straight for the two smallest kittens in this abnormally large litter.  In a true moment of selflessness while risking certian death Jarred “The Juggernaut” Griffin flung his right thumb directly in the path of the eagle wasps.  Upon contact with the stingers that rival most swordfish instant pain shot through Jarred “The Juggernauts” body, but in this time of need he felt no pain. Jarred believes that pain is a choice.  He immediately noticed that the other humans on the ground were also in danger.  Quickly Jarred top roped off the windmill and face first repelled down the tower with the kittens still clinging to his back.  Reaching the ground Jarred placed each kitten in an individual large blanket with warm milk.  He then attended to the humans which were in harms way for the eagle wasps had been making haste directly towards them the whole time.  He then engaged an intense stare down of the winged creature killing them all instantly.  True bliss filled the air as all of the other humans rushed up to the man who had saved their lives.  It was sure a sight the Jarred “the Juggernaut” Griffin saves the day again. 

Tune in next week to see what the Juggernaut has in store for us.  (No animal or Human was injured in the ordeal.  The only injury sustained was the right thumb of the Juggernaut ,which will never have arthritis,  and a large gash in the open palm.  Notice no animals or Humans were injured for the Juggernaut is simply of another kind.

-Merely a mortal-

So today was a good day we drilled again.  It was a lot slower we hit 38 meters.  We are into very hard clay that is very tough to drill through.  We broke three couplers but got it all fixed fairly quickly and were back at it.  Today was Mrs. Kathys B-Day and the custom here in Bolivia is basically the the person whoes B-Day it is hosts the party ha.  So we had twenty Bolivian women here when I got back from drilling and they all brought their kids and dogs.  It was great.  Jarred you will get a kick out of this.  When we first arrived at the Wallers we were pumped because they had gotten fans for us and our rooms here at there house.  It was great for the first two nights that me and Jarred used the one we had.  Well it was late afternoon and I was about to jump in the shower and was cleaning up my room a little.  NOTE – I was not wearing shoes – My fan was kinda in the way and so with my right hand I reached to move it slightly to the left.  Upon doing so I suddenly recieved one of the most painful and terrifying thing I had ever felt/experienced.  I immediately felt a sensation/pain take over the right side of my body and not release for about two or three seconds/ days my body recieved a nice Bolivian shock from the outlet.  I physically was able to release my grip because my feet lifted off the ground when I used my 44 inch vertical.  If not for my wonderful leaping ability I might not have been able to tell this story.  For the rest of the day and until the next morning I was able to feel a tingling sensation in the right side of my body.  It was amazing.  Bolivia runs on I dont know what this means but 220…The States uses 110 I beleive.  I have no data to back this up but you do the math and go stick two pennys in the socket for three seconds.  but really it hurt but everything is safe here…Mr. Terry is ready for bed maybe tommorrow.

-Addison-