Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. During Practicum, Becky shared her experience on our blog. Now that she is in an intetn in Bolivia, she will post updates as our interns in 2008 did. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas.

We are continuing the rice harvest, and I am beginning to get the feel of it, even though the kids and everyone else works rings around me. The neat thing about being out there is the sounds. There are so many different kinds of birds with some very strange sounding songs, singing constantly. One day, we were working near the tree line and things kept falling out of this really big tree. The kids said there was a monkey up there, but we never saw it. Saturday, a couple of pairs of parrots were sitting high up in a palm tree making all sorts of sounds. You can hear all the insects and their songs. The field is beautiful with really tall trees all around it, and when the wind blows in the field through the tops of rice, making a sort of rattling sound. Everyone is spread out cutting the rice tassels many times in silence just working away in their own thoughts as they cut the rice trying to get more done than the person working just a few meters away. Sometimes someone will start singing, and the song floats across the field. Occasionally, a cooling shower of rain will come along or it could be a downpour, most of the time when we leave our clothes are soaking wet from sweat. That is when I am glad to have these nice cold water showers.

Several people have asked if I am really eating rice three times a day. No, but close. Some days we have noodles. My favorite, being a southern girl, is having black-eyed peas and rice twice a week. We have an excellent cook that seasons everything really well. Several times a week, we have rice and a salad made with cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions. On Saturday, we have potato salad made with potatoes, carrots and chicken mixed up with homemade mayo. We have a little meat of some sort daily. It is usually ground beef, chicken, canned meat sort of like spam and canned fish with a tomato sauce. We have soup several times a week; one of my favorites has a grain called quinoa which is very high in protein. My least favorite breakfast is rice with beets and onions. I like beets okay, just not for breakfast. We have fried plantains with almost every meal. The rice and noodles are always browned before cooking. The reason for this I don´t know yet, except that is how it is done in Bolivia.

Thanks for all the prayers and financial support, so I can be here in Bolivia to live this fascinating journey God is taking me on.

Grace, love and peace

Hermana Rebecca (Becky)