Because life here would just be too perfect if it weren't for snakes...

It’s hard to believe the school year is almost over. Classes end this Friday, and most of the kids will go home soon thereafter, just in time for Thanksgiving.

We’re already celebrated with a few thanksgivings recently as God provided for our needs in the knick of time, again. At breakfast last Tuesday, the directors announced that we were down to our last meal and didn’t have the money to buy food for the week and asked the students to join us in prayer. A few hours later the needed money arrived. Another morning a few months ago the kitchen had served its last when the parents of one of the students showed up unexpectedly with a large donation of food. This week again, the money came just in time. I think God likes testing us. It’s times like these when you wish you were a quick study.

Just as I was getting ready to come to town this morning, Yerco, one of the primary school kids, arrived late to school on his bicycle, sweating and distraught. “Me picó una vibora” he announced, much calmer than one would expect for someone with that kind of news.

“Where? When?” My mind immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario were I imagined us making a bed in the back of the truck, tourniqueting and elevating his leg and force-feeding him charcoal while bouncing to town at full speed…

“Just now in the entrance”

“Where in the entrance?” (It is over a kilometer long)

“At the corner” (Just a few minutes out). “Let me see” I ordered. He lifted his pant leg and pointed to his ankle. “Here?” I asked, pointing to two small red dots that looked like they could be fang marks, although they didn’t seem particularly fresh. He shook his head. “Lower.” I didn’t see anything, but some snakes have very small fangs and their bite marks can be very hard to see, but I was encouraged to see that his ankle wasn’t red or swollen.

“What did the snake look like?”

“It was yellow, and not real big.”

His pulse was normal and he wasn’t abnormally warm or cold, but he was limping and seemed to be in pain. Miss Susie put a charcoal poultice on his ankle and we brought him to the clinic in town just to be on the safe side. After the 40 minutes ride, he still showed no further symptoms, leaving us relieved and praising the Lord for his protection. What a lesson for me too, I couldn't help but think. There are always snakes in the road, trying to bite me and make me fall to my death. But God is good, and if I get up and keep in the road, God will provide my salvation.

At the clinic Yerco’s story was a bit more detailed and colorful. He said the serpent had latched onto his leg and he had fallen over with his bike and kicked it off. It was hard to tell if the story was simply growing with the audience or if he had just recovered from the scare enough to finally give the full version. The doctor wanted to keep him 24 hours for observation, so we went to his family’s house in town to let them know and they took it from there.

My next stop this morning was the immigration office to pick up my passport and carnet (the international ID card that is the last step of becoming a legal Bolivian resident), only to find out that there is a new police chief in Trinidad, and he wants the foreigners to go there in person to pick up our carnets. This wouldn’t be a problem, except that my flight home is the 23^rd and if my passport doesn’t get back in time, I’ll have to change my flight again. (Sound familiar?) The lady at immigration said she would call and try to work something out, so I’m going back this afternoon to see what she found out. In the meantime, God is helping me not to worry. I know it’s all in His hands.

Soul Maintenance

Rainy season is here, wide-open and roaring wet. I wish I could send you a recording of the thunder. Sometimes you hear nothing coming, and then suddenly the sky cracks directly above you, so loud it sounds like its falling on your head.

It’s hard to dry anything. Clothes are still moist when you take them off the line, and sheets are damp and sticky when you crawl in bed at night. Leather shoes scum over with mildew, and books molder on the shelves. But the weather has been cooler and more comfortable to work in.

The jungle growth-rate has shifted into maximum acceleration, and it takes a small army of machete wielding alumnos to keep it from taking over the place. I fear that when the kids leave, the school will go as wild they will. One nightmare variety of grass turns into a shrub if you let it grow too long between cuts. It develops an enormous sobre-terranean root-ball that is impossible to cut lower than a foot off the ground. The “stump” that remains has to be dug out with a pick and shovel. It takes lawn care to a whole new level. I find myself longing for the commercial John Deere ride-mowers and self-propelled Honda push-mowers of the Walla Walla Grounds Department, although the tractor with the brush hog or at least the flail mower would be a lot more practical for our situation.

Speaking of mowers, I started working on our solitary push mower this week, the one we haven’t used once yet because no one has had time to fix it’s clogged carburetor and watered-down oil since it arrived in July. Fortunately the cylinder and piston seem to be okay, there was no sign of rust. I think it’s going to work once it’s all back together. Reassembly will have to wait however, because a student helper twisted the head off of one of the bolts that secures the torque converter. (We were going to bring it in to town today, but kind of forgot about it with all the snakebite excitement.)

Cutting the grass so often really makes me think of soul maintenance. I’ve uncovered all kinds of discarded ugliness and a few treasures that have been hidden by the overgrowth: old rotten clothes, mango pits, trash, bricks, tools, and even a couple of spoons, a nearly complete archaeological record of life here at UETIRG. I’ve been surprised at the abundance of the heart of the jungle. As popular as it may be, letting things go natural is not the greatest idea. The closer the jungle comes to your house, the closer come the critters. I found a snake in my house two days ago, and Paeter recently almost stepped on a porcupine on his way back from a late-night jaunt to the bathroom. As the hillbilly buddies would say, “there be things that live in them there woods!” So keeping the bush cut back is not just a matter of keeping up appearances. Please pray for the kids as they leave for vacation that they will remember what they have learned this year and not just default back to harmful lifestyles and habits.

We’ve been busy planning for next school year while we try to wrap up this one. Enrollment is already up to 70 students, making it a necessity that we finish the new girl’s dorm and classrooms over the vacation. A group is supposed to arrive the 20^th of November to help with that. Tara has been working on the new class schedule for next year. Several volunteers are not returning, and combined with the increase of students, that makes planning a workable class schedule difficult. Right now I’m leaning toward coming back for another year. I would probably teach two sections of chime choir as well as help with voice choir and teach third and fourth year literature. Tara wants me to write up a literature/language arts curriculum, so if you know someone who would be good at helping me think through that one, let me know!

I’m still working on the school website when I can. You can check my minimal progress here for stories on the international food fair, recent outreach projects, and other news. I’ve been slow about the updates… uploading pictures is a real hassle with the slow internet connection.)

I pray for God speed and thorough sanctification and the soon coming of our Lord and Savior. Blessings