we DID start the fire!

Bienvenidos once again! Another week gone by, and another week absolutely full of adventures and stops in this journey! I feel like a running theme of the week was FIRE, and here is why-

First of all, we were able to celebrate the Bolivian holiday of dia de San Juan with the team and the boys on Tuesday. Though none of us gringos were exactly sure of the origins of the holiday, what we have gathered over the years is that it is a day where all the people in Bolivia burn things. You burn certain things for luck in different areas of life I guess. Though we did not burn specific things, we definitely had a HUGE bonfire to compete with all other bonfires in the town! The team, the boys, the hosts, and the Hernandez family who built the Centro were all together, eating hot dogs, playing volleyball, and shooting off fireworks. Young boys with fireworks is pretty funny. They loved to shoot fireworks towards one of the dogs, Bobbi, because he kept on trying to eat them, which the boys loved. They also enjoyed using their sparklers to set mini fires in the little grass that was left on the soccer field. It was a good night, that´s for sure. The next day was SO smokey. Cochabamba was prepared for it though- they no longer schedule any flights to take off or land in the city because it is so thick.

The work project I was assigned to this week was burning the weeds in the same field we macheted 2 teams ago. We spent two morenings trying to supervise a manageable fire, which went well about 92 percent of the time. The second day we had to fight a mega-wind that almost caught the abandoned pig farm on fire, but we had a group who was calm under pressure, and we fought that fire back under control. I think that field is my baby this summer, my special project. I have been out there almost every day.

This week was one of the toughest for me. I think I am just pretty tired, but sleeping and taking care of myself have been pretty low on the list of priorities for me. Another bummer for me was that I dropped and broke one of the team member´s cameras, which I really have still been bummed about. Elena, the girl whose camera it was, really humbled me by her reaction though. She told me that she cared more about people than she did about things, and she was really full of grace. And I know that we should care more about people than we do things, and a lot of us say that, but when our THINGS break, we don´t act like that. She taught me a lot about grace even in that one instance. The other hard moment of the week was that I took my first team to the Christ Statue, La Cancha (the market) and the airport by myself, which was tough on me. I felt so nervous and unconfident for the first time since I´ve been a host. It was a week that showed me that I still have a lot of confidence issues within me that I still need to put to rest.

One thing is for sure- God is growing and stretching me a lot. My fellow hosts and the team members have incredible God-stories that have made me stand in awe of God. I´m learning to lean on God, and that He is big enough, strong enough, and worthy enough for my burdens.

The first Lake Forest team arrived on Friday, bringing INTERESTING news about Michael Jackson, Ferrah Fawcett, and Iran. It´s unbelievable how removed we are from any news. The LFCC team also brought the news about Steph! Rumor had it that he´s heading to Washington (though some said California?) which is SWEET because that´s my home for the next 9 months! Whooo!

Anyways, hasta luego! Muchos abrazos!