Monday, February 9, 2009
Yay!! :)
I'm happy :) cause 6 of the students have come back and this week at least 2 more will be here. Its really hard to describe how unbelievably boring it can get at the school when no one is there. So that is why I am so happy that finally some students are coming back. We have a portable sawmill that is almost up and running so soon we will be able to cut wood for furniture and also for the trusses for the roof of the new school building. Also I found out that I can get more days on my visa. For the last two weeks I was scared that I would have to leave early. But I talked to the guy in immigration today and he said it would be all right. well Its late... til next time, Gabo
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Yata and random musings
Yata is a little town about 5 kilometers from us. There is one student from there, named Alberto. On Sabbath we go to his sisters house and have church. His family comes usually, but lately a lot more people have been coming. There is a widow that has 2 sons. She is in her late 40's. She can't read or write, but she likes singing songs and listening to the Bible stories we read. There is an older guy with his wife and daughter and grandaughter.
They are all doing the Bible studies "La Fe de Jesus." There is one thing that seemed really weird to me about the Bible studies. Its that we ask the question in the study. Then we read the verse that goes with the question. Then we ask them to answer the question an about half of them every time look at us blankly like they have no idea what the answer is. And this isn't just for the hard questions they do that for even the most simple ones. Like, "Does anyone know the date that Jesus will come back." Mar 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son but the Father. And they have no idea what to write for the answer unless we tell them. That makes me wonder sometimes if they are actually learning anything. O well I guess after that all we can do is pray an hope they understand something.
Every once in a while we go and use our truck to bring leaves that they cut for their roofs. They have to repair their roofs made out of leaves every 5-7 years. But at least the materials are free. Taking about local construction, you'd be surprised at what can be done with alot simpler stuff than we in the US are accustomed to using. We mow the side of the road with machetes, and the lawn with a weedeater. We cleared a runway with machetes and a weedeater and a few matches. The best things to use to keep parts on your car that are falling off are not nuts and bolts but wire and used inner tubes.
Clint and I made a dam for the spring out of bricks, sand and some plastic. We put a 4 1/2 inch pipe in there and now we have a good spout for spring water. The mangos are getting ripe; I had 2 of them this morning. Son deliciosos. Anyway thats all for today. I'll write more sometime.
They are all doing the Bible studies "La Fe de Jesus." There is one thing that seemed really weird to me about the Bible studies. Its that we ask the question in the study. Then we read the verse that goes with the question. Then we ask them to answer the question an about half of them every time look at us blankly like they have no idea what the answer is. And this isn't just for the hard questions they do that for even the most simple ones. Like, "Does anyone know the date that Jesus will come back." Mar 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son but the Father. And they have no idea what to write for the answer unless we tell them. That makes me wonder sometimes if they are actually learning anything. O well I guess after that all we can do is pray an hope they understand something.
Every once in a while we go and use our truck to bring leaves that they cut for their roofs. They have to repair their roofs made out of leaves every 5-7 years. But at least the materials are free. Taking about local construction, you'd be surprised at what can be done with alot simpler stuff than we in the US are accustomed to using. We mow the side of the road with machetes, and the lawn with a weedeater. We cleared a runway with machetes and a weedeater and a few matches. The best things to use to keep parts on your car that are falling off are not nuts and bolts but wire and used inner tubes.
Clint and I made a dam for the spring out of bricks, sand and some plastic. We put a 4 1/2 inch pipe in there and now we have a good spout for spring water. The mangos are getting ripe; I had 2 of them this morning. Son deliciosos. Anyway thats all for today. I'll write more sometime.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Boredom?
Well..... I feel that I'm not really doing anything here. I can't wait until some of the students get back in the end of January. Its just that all I do is work; but I know that I need to find out what God needs for me to learn during this time. Moses worked 40 years herding sheep in the wilderness before he was ready to lead Israel out of Egypt. Jacob worked for Laban 14 years while he was learning to trust God's timing. And at the end of that time he had "power with God and man"..."and prevailed." Gen. 32:28 John the Baptist grew up in the wilderness and lived there until he was 30. He knew God so well that when he saw Jesus he said "Behold the Lamb of God." So maybe in these 6 months in the Bolivia God has something to teach me. Its just awful hard at times when I think, "I came here to do something, to make a difference." And it seems that I am just sitting still. :) Until next time, Gabe :)
Monday, December 1, 2008
An adventurous week
hmmm... Last week... I'm gonna have to write this one day at a time. It was pretty busy.
Monday - In the afternoon I chopped wood for a roof for the tomatoes. All the tomatoes are getting moldy, so we are seeing what will happen if we keep the rain off.
Tuesday - I cut more wood in the morning. And in the afternoon I helped load firewood.
Wednesday - Today the week got interesting. At 4:45 in the morning Brian woke me up to say goodbye. Brian and his family (Mom - Estela, Dad - Mamerto, and sisters - Damaris, Gabriela, Euridice, Natali, and Danitsa) left to go to their home in Santa Ana. They help at the school during the school year. So I decided to go to town with them and say goodbye and watch the airplane leave. The airplane left with DJ flying soon after we got there. We decided to bring a load of sawdust back from town for the garden. So we stopped at the sawmill and loaded up the sawdust. I ended up eating breakfast at 9:00. After breakfast we unloaded the truck, but the truck got stuck. So we had to dig the truck out. Then we went and loaded firewood. After lunch we went back to town to unload the wood and to get manure and wait for the plane. The plane came in a little late at 6:00 with one cylinder really hot and low fuel pressure, low oil temperature and the oil pressure gauge not working. After that we went back to the school.
Thursday - It was Thanksgiving and we (a bunch of people from the school) went to Ingave, a town in the jungle on a river, to help with health problems and to do dental work. The first load was Ruan, Mrs. Susie, Mrs. Mindy and Joel with DJ flying. O... Just to let u know we flew a different plane then the one that was having trouble. Then DJ flew back and picked up Dr. Kim, his wife Anita, his sons Benjamin and Justin and me. Once we got there started setting up the portable dental equipment. No one wanted help until Dr. Kim the dentist told the kids with me translating how to brush their teeth and gave them a free toothbrush. Then everybody came to get their teeth checked and get a checkup from Mrs. Susie and Joel. It was so long that we didn't have time to make 2 trips. So DJ, Dr. Kim, Anita, Benjamin, Justin, Mindy and I flew back.
Friday - In the morning we unloaded the manure that we got on Wednesday and Dr. Kim went to pick up the people we had left at Ingave. Then we went to get a load of leaves for a guy in Yata to fix his roof. I had a machete and as I was clearing the side of the road for the truck to back up I hit my thumb and cut my thumb to the bone. DJ was smart and cut the bottom of his shirt off and the guy we were getting leaves for chopped a tree open, scraped the inside out and put it on my thumb and told me that it would help. That was around 9:00. We finished loading the truck, then drove to Yata to unload it. By the time we got back to the school it was around 11:45 and Fawna looked at my thumb and cleaned it out and told me i needed stitches. So she poked me with Lidocaine and then put 4 stitches in and now my thumb feels perfectly fine. :)
Sabbath - I'll update later today.
3 weeks later-- Well It seems I never did make it back to the internet that day :( and then there was no internet the next week and then the week after that I was to lazy to check back in so here I am again. :) well Sabbath I went to church in town :) I don't really remember what happened Sunday. so that is all :)
Monday - In the afternoon I chopped wood for a roof for the tomatoes. All the tomatoes are getting moldy, so we are seeing what will happen if we keep the rain off.
Tuesday - I cut more wood in the morning. And in the afternoon I helped load firewood.
Wednesday - Today the week got interesting. At 4:45 in the morning Brian woke me up to say goodbye. Brian and his family (Mom - Estela, Dad - Mamerto, and sisters - Damaris, Gabriela, Euridice, Natali, and Danitsa) left to go to their home in Santa Ana. They help at the school during the school year. So I decided to go to town with them and say goodbye and watch the airplane leave. The airplane left with DJ flying soon after we got there. We decided to bring a load of sawdust back from town for the garden. So we stopped at the sawmill and loaded up the sawdust. I ended up eating breakfast at 9:00. After breakfast we unloaded the truck, but the truck got stuck. So we had to dig the truck out. Then we went and loaded firewood. After lunch we went back to town to unload the wood and to get manure and wait for the plane. The plane came in a little late at 6:00 with one cylinder really hot and low fuel pressure, low oil temperature and the oil pressure gauge not working. After that we went back to the school.
Thursday - It was Thanksgiving and we (a bunch of people from the school) went to Ingave, a town in the jungle on a river, to help with health problems and to do dental work. The first load was Ruan, Mrs. Susie, Mrs. Mindy and Joel with DJ flying. O... Just to let u know we flew a different plane then the one that was having trouble. Then DJ flew back and picked up Dr. Kim, his wife Anita, his sons Benjamin and Justin and me. Once we got there started setting up the portable dental equipment. No one wanted help until Dr. Kim the dentist told the kids with me translating how to brush their teeth and gave them a free toothbrush. Then everybody came to get their teeth checked and get a checkup from Mrs. Susie and Joel. It was so long that we didn't have time to make 2 trips. So DJ, Dr. Kim, Anita, Benjamin, Justin, Mindy and I flew back.
Friday - In the morning we unloaded the manure that we got on Wednesday and Dr. Kim went to pick up the people we had left at Ingave. Then we went to get a load of leaves for a guy in Yata to fix his roof. I had a machete and as I was clearing the side of the road for the truck to back up I hit my thumb and cut my thumb to the bone. DJ was smart and cut the bottom of his shirt off and the guy we were getting leaves for chopped a tree open, scraped the inside out and put it on my thumb and told me that it would help. That was around 9:00. We finished loading the truck, then drove to Yata to unload it. By the time we got back to the school it was around 11:45 and Fawna looked at my thumb and cleaned it out and told me i needed stitches. So she poked me with Lidocaine and then put 4 stitches in and now my thumb feels perfectly fine. :)
Sabbath - I'll update later today.
3 weeks later-- Well It seems I never did make it back to the internet that day :( and then there was no internet the next week and then the week after that I was to lazy to check back in so here I am again. :) well Sabbath I went to church in town :) I don't really remember what happened Sunday. so that is all :)
Monday, November 24, 2008
One more week.... Its really hot down here
Well I have survived 2 and a h
alf weeks here. 5 months to go. Lets see..... Since last Monday, I have built roads, planted rice, made bread and other food in the kitchen. I've picked mangos, changed truck tires, hauled sand, cut wood and even started building a roof. Being a missionary, you learn to do a bunch of different things. I got diarrhea (la enfermedad de los gringos) Saturday night.... It was awful. But I'm all better now. On Sunday I started to make a roof for the garden. :) Seriously, it is so hot and humid here that the tomatoes get moldy. So we are going to put a roof over them to see if keeping the rain off of them will help. Cucumbers and squash love the heat though and they just grow and grow and grow. We now have a pilot here. His name is DJ. And he will be here until April. He has been flying around to some little jungle towns finding out what kind of needs they have. Most of them have no way to get any medical care. One big town is a day and a half by boat from the nearest doctor. Another town is 15 days by boat and a doctor comes on an ADRA boat every 3 months. The picture on the left is some of the students. Almost all of them have left now. Well thats all until next week. I wish I could upload more pictures, but its hard so I guess I will show some when I get back.
alf weeks here. 5 months to go. Lets see..... Since last Monday, I have built roads, planted rice, made bread and other food in the kitchen. I've picked mangos, changed truck tires, hauled sand, cut wood and even started building a roof. Being a missionary, you learn to do a bunch of different things. I got diarrhea (la enfermedad de los gringos) Saturday night.... It was awful. But I'm all better now. On Sunday I started to make a roof for the garden. :) Seriously, it is so hot and humid here that the tomatoes get moldy. So we are going to put a roof over them to see if keeping the rain off of them will help. Cucumbers and squash love the heat though and they just grow and grow and grow. We now have a pilot here. His name is DJ. And he will be here until April. He has been flying around to some little jungle towns finding out what kind of needs they have. Most of them have no way to get any medical care. One big town is a day and a half by boat from the nearest doctor. Another town is 15 days by boat and a doctor comes on an ADRA boat every 3 months. The picture on the left is some of the students. Almost all of them have left now. Well thats all until next week. I wish I could upload more pictures, but its hard so I guess I will show some when I get back.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Students
I made friends with some of the students at the school. Jerry was my best friend but he went home last Thursday. :( Deborah's dad drinks and she doesn't want to go home. What she wants to do is live with her "friends." Not all is bad though; Damaris just graduated and wants to go to Instituto Biblico Centro-Americano in Honduras. (That is the place I went to last June and July.) All of the students work hard though. Joel is form Brazil.... He will graduate next year. He seems like a nice guy. Corola just graduated... She's gonna go on the ADRA boat. Then there's Joaquin, Omar, Grecia, and a few others that I haven't talked to as much. Last Friday the Kim's got here. They are a Korean family from Montana. They have 3 Kids and I like them. Work? Cutting down rainforest, mowing the grass with a machete, gardening... a little bit of everything. :) I like it though. :) Well thats all for today folks.
Monday, November 10, 2008
My new Blog
This here blog is supposed to be updated whenever I get to town. That may or may not happen depending on whether I have more important things to do or not. Well right now I am in Bolivia and hopefully I will tell you whats going on with m,e so that way u know (If u want to know). And if u don't, I guess it don't really matter you're gonna find out anyway. I actually don't have time for anything except to tell you that it is hot and humid and I love it here. Graduation was yesterday and about half the kids left this morning, and the others will leave in about a week, except for a few that need to work for about a month and a half. Town is half an hour away, every Monday. Lunch is rice and something... every day. :( Well guys I got to go so I will update when I can.
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