Opposite ends of the world..

Things are going well here in Bolivia. It rained for the first time in a while today... the kids here went crazy! We had a bit of a water fight, which was fun. We just finished lunch and I have a bit of a break before the next group of kids come in. So a bit of an update is needed on my end. Last week (Tuesday), I did my sermon. Now I was thinking that I would be preaching in the church... but no... it was on the street about 2 blocks away from my house. So a lot of people from my church came and sat in this persons driveway. So I got up there and was hoping to have something to hold my notebook, but all they had was a chair. So they told me to sit down and preach. So here I am ¨preaching¨and it was just such a funny setting because taxi drivers and cars would drive by and stop, stare and then keep driving. I don´t think they are used to having foreigners preach.. especially on the street. For some reason my host dad sat in his car the entire time, but still was able to shout out haleluiah when he got the chance. My sermon was about loving your neighbour and what that means when doing service (like SALT). I think it went over really well. It was pretty nerve racking and I told my host mom that I was nervous and she just started laughing so hard! My host sister Cesia taped it so now I have a copy of my sermon. It will be interesting to listen to it next year when I come back home and see how much my spanish has improved. My host parents both said that it was ¨bonita¨, so that was nice to hear.

This past weekend I went with the youth group from my church to this river that we had been to before. Again, it´s not a real river... more like a stream. So we decided to play mud futbol. It was really fun! By the end we were just covered in mud. We then went 4 wheeling again... they didn´t let me drive it- but I think it´s Ok because I think it would have been a disaster if I did.
This past Sunday was pretty relaxing. Sunday night we went to church, and Walter (my host dad) was preaching about reading the bible. Anyways, when he was almost finished he randomly called me up to the front and asked me to sing a song in english. Now honestly I was really put on the spot and I had no idea that he was going to do this. My mind went completly blank. I couldn´t think of one stinken song to sing. So I told my church that I will sing for them another day. So I guess I have to start practicing for that.

This week has gone by fairly quickly. I have been trying to find places where I can go for runs, but honestly everywhere you turn there are stray dogs. Two nights ago I got on my micro and was heading home from work and guess who I saw? The same driver that was driving the one night where he said his shift was over and then had to have my sister talk the bus driver on my cell phone! I hid behind some woman the entire ride home. I found it pretty hilarious though!

So this weekend there is not much planned. Starting next week I have been asked to coach the girls on how to play basketball. There is another school that is wanting to play against us, and apparently they are pretty good, so I am supposed to teach these girls (who know nothing about basketball) how to play. So our game is supposed to be next Saturday at 9:30 am. It should be interesting!

I seriously am lacking in clothing here. I only brought one big backpack for the entire year. I don´t know what I was thinking in just bringing one pair of jeans for the entire year!!! I think next week I am going to check out this used clothing place and hopefully find some bargains.

Well I should get going. I hope this gives a bit of an update on how things are going! My sister Clare is leaving for Africa on Sunday... so I´m here in Bolivia, my other sister Heather is in China and Clare in Africa! My mom is getting a little worried!!! It´s pretty neat though!

Anyways, much love to you all!