Career Day

Last Saturday our family had the privilege to see Food for the Hungry (FH) in action. Up to this point our days have been filled with mostly language learning, so our time with FH has been limited. This past week however we were invited to help with a special FH project in near by Orna Casa. Orna Casa is a very low income suburb of Sucre and one location of many that FH has an ongoing presence. The project was a "Career Day" that involved around 450 kids from the surrounding villages. Many kids in Bolivia, especially children from low income villages, grow up with little hope of ever living outside of the extreme poverty that is often passed from generation to generation . They are raised in an atmosphere where dreams are squelched by disease, abuse, and abandonment. With that said, one goal of FH is to begin providing opportunity for children to see hope beyond their current circumstances. We believe that all children have been created in the image of God and blessed with skills and abilities that make them unique, beautiful and talented. We desire for children to grasp that life has purpose and that each new day with God brings hope for a brighter future. Not only was this past weekend a kick start for the dreams of many kids, but it ignited a sense of value, meaning, and relevance into the life of many who feel forgotten.

As you can see from the pictures below a wide variety of careers were represented. Police and Fire Department, K-9 unit, EMS unit, doctors, nurses, finance, nutrition, agriculture, social work and many more. Each of these "careers" volunteered their time for the day and brought all kinds of interactive tools to help teach the kids about their job and how they too could some day have a career in their field. The teachers were great and the kids loved it!

K-9 unit showing their stuff.

This boy was proud to show off his flower he received from the agriculture booth.

Getting checked out by the Doc.

Fireman's display

Trying out some fireman's gear

CPR session

Ella enjoyed and was inspired by career day too!

This final picture was the highlight of the day. About 30 minutes prior to the end of the event a bus rolled up filled with the local professional soccer team. For these kids this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. This was like having the Bengals or Reds show up at to an event where you could talk to them and get their autograph. The kids swarmed the bus and every face had a grin from ear to ear.

What an incredible opportunity for these kids to see beyond their circumstances and see that God has created them with purpose and potential. We pray that the seeds of hope that were planted this week will blossom into lives of purpose and impact in the years to come.

Treasure Found!

Many of you out there know that I (Jennie) have a special place in my heart for a batch of really good brownies. Over the past 2 years I have come to perfect the art of making brownies...out of a box. While the process is much easier than making then from scratch, there is SOME skill involved in this. Most of my trial and error in working with boxed brownies came from the brand of brownies you use and the kind/size of pan you use. After many painstaking attempts and taste testing of various brands of brownies and pan sizes, I have found my favorite.

Coming to Sucre I have had to start all over in my aim to find the perfect boxed brownie. I have discovered, however, that my trial and error will be a much quicker journey. You see, in Sucre, the trial and error is in FINDING a brownie mix. Most of the time the stores have none. And if you are lucky to find a box mix in the store, before the other missionaries in town buy them ALL, you will find only one brand....from Argentina. So far in my quest for brownies I have not been able to get my hands on this Argentinean brand.

But last week, in Sucre's version of a western supermarket, this caught my eye...

Wow! Heavenly music filled the isles as I grabbed the box. It took me all of 2 seconds to decide if the $18 US dollars was worth buying this HUGE box of Betty Crocker, HERSHEY's Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Mix with mini Kisses Brand Chocolates and Hershey's Semi Sweet chocolate chunks. Four brownie mixes are included in this box.

Now the only problem is how to cook this at 9,000 feet! I learned the hard way with a batch of cookies that took over 30 mins to cook...and came out like hockey pucks. So I crossed my fingers and baked my first batch of brownies at 450 degrees for 50 minutes. And....they turned out great! Just like home! Now I just need to keep myself from making the final 3 batches all in one month!

As you can see, I am rejoicing in the little blessings that come our way!

The Bolivian Couches Part 4

To keep with the trend of updating you about our furniture adventures I decided to share about the couch and chair set that we purchased for our new apartment. A few weeks ago we visited the market looking for a couch and chair set that would sit in our new living room. One thing you need to know is that finding a comfortable couch is one thing, finding a comfortable couch that is not purple with large floral patterns is another. It seems that most Bolivian furniture is covered with bizarred patterns and something you would see on "The Brady Bunch" or "That 70's Show." After searching through the market we found a carpenter that builds his own furniture and covers it with a material of your choice. We looked through his swatches and found a neutral brown color that would match our room. It took about two weeks to build and we got a phone call this past Monday saying the furniture was finished and he wanted to deliver it that night. He said "I am loading it now, I will be there in 20 minutes." So, John walked down to the street to wait for the "delivery truck." After an hour and 40 minutes a taxi with two couches strapped to the top and a chair plus automan hanging out of the back puttered around the street corner. Of course the large couch would not fit in the elevator so John and the little bolivian man and a 13 year old boy hauled the couch up 5 flights of stairs to the apartment. We squeezed it all through the door and now enjoy a new living room set! Not exactly how we expected the process to go, but then again maybe we expected it to go exactly how it did!

Just an example, not our actual couches.

Which Path Have You Chosen

As a follower of the Messiah I have come to realize that every person on earth has chosen one of two paths to follow. The path of purpose, redemption, and forgiveness which is given through the blood of Yeshua on the cross, or the path of this world which may bring temporal satisfaction but is filled with eternal despair and hopelessness. Many of you who know Jennie and I know our decision to serve God in Bolivia has been a long time in coming. We have prepared and planned for this move for months. This week as I have sat through hours of Spanish lessons I have once again been reminded of how God orchestrates our steps to serve the purpose he has in mind. Spanish lessons are long, tedious, and often mentally draining, but this week I finish my lessons with renewed strength and energy. I would love to share briefly the story of Patricia. Coming to Bolivia 4 weeks ago we anticipated 3 months of language school before we actually begin our work/”ministry” with FH in November. Knowing we would have lots on our plate we set as a goal to get settled and learn the language as quick as we could. Creating relationships is always on our radar but has been somewhat of an afterthought due to the language barrier. This week in school I have had a teacher named Patricia who is very nice and open to talking about anything. During class you basically just talk as this is one of the best ways to practice your speaking and be corrected in your vocabulary and grammar. I noticed early on that Patricia, along with the other teachers I have had, are very open to talking about religion, theology, and other “personal” beliefs. Patricia, like most Bolivians, considers herself Catholic but doesn’t seem to really know much about Catholicism and really has an animistic approach to worship. Worshipping a mixture of “gods” and basically a distant approach to any personal relationship at all. Well, throughout the week Patricia has been asking me all sorts of questions about good, evil, demon possession, Jesus walking on water, the resurrection, and tons of other topics. (Me explaining the answers to these questions in SPANISH has been extremely challenging.) She is very interested and eager to learn about what the Bible says. We even spent a good hour one day talking about Mormonism and the differences between the two religions. Numerous times throughout the week Patricia has said, “I need to get a Bible, I like what it has to say.” Then the next day she comes with more questions and we spend half our class talking about theology and the beliefs of Christianity. Well, yesterday I decided that I would go to a local bookstore and purchase a Bible for Patricia and give it to her as a gift at the end of the week. From there I figured God would move her heart as He saw fit. This morning I gave the Bible to Patricia and it was a really cool moment. Not only was she extremely excited but we then spent another hour walking through the Bible and I was able to share the set up of her Scriptures and how she can use the different resources in the back to aid her reading. She asked where she should start reading and I directed her toward the Gospels and explained a little background. Later in class I was assigned a worksheet to complete (over some nearly impossible preterit verbs) and I noticed while I was working that she picked up the Bible and started reading. After the assignment was complete we had about 30 minutes and she launched into more questions about what she was reading. She started reading in John 13:31-38. How she started here I am not sure, but she had lots of questions concerning Peter’s questions and what Jesus meant in this section. In only a way that God orchestrates I was able to walk her through the message of salvation and how such a decision impacts and affects her life. It was a beautiful reminder of the opportunities that surround all believers everyday. Patricia is on a journey and she has no idea where and how it will end. Today I shared with her about a path that brings eternal hope, peace, and life. A path that does not promise a pain-free life, but a life with purpose that puts the pain in perspective. I encourage you to seize the moment. Whether it is salvation for the first time or an opportunity to share eternal life with someone you can hardly speak to. Your moments are orchestrated … which path have you chosen. May the Lord bless Patricia as she seeks to find the path of truth and life in Him.

A Typical Day In Bolivia

Over the last few weeks many people have asked what our daily schedule looks like and how we fill our days here in Bolivia. As to be expected it is a little different each day depending on many variables but here is our general schedule. Most days begin at about 6:30 when Ella walks into our room and asks to watch a movie. Now that Ella is in a "big" bed she is able to choose her own wake up schedule and in turn chooses ours. Typically John takes language school in the morning so he rises first and begins to prepare for the day. In Bolivia you don't buy bread by the loaf but rather you purchase bread fresh from a street vendor or bakery almost daily. Over the past few days John has started the day by making a quick bread run to the near by shop or bakery. Bread is cheap so it is best to just buy what you need as you need it. Typically it is fresh out of the oven as well. Around 8:00 John heads off to school and Jennie and Ella begin their day by playing or watching a Veggie Tales movie. Jennie also begins the task of cleaning up breakfast and getting laundry started. (Neither is easy in this culture.) Meals in Bolivia are a big challenge. You can't buy pre-made ingredients like you can in the states so it takes much longer to prepare a good sized meal. Bolivian tradition is that you eat a very large lunch (several courses) and then a small dinner. Because of the altitude and work ethic in Bolivia most people don't eat until late, and thus don't like to go to bed on a full stomach. With that said Jennie begins making lunch around 10:30 or 11:00. Typically a soup with veggies and some sort of main dish, chicken, wrap or something of that nature. It has been a challenge but Jennie has done a great job adjusting to the new changes and feeding her hungry husband each day. On John's way home he typically stops by the Central Market and purchases some fruit or veggies for the dinner or the next day. John has found a pleasant little Bolivian woman (Qanta) who gives him a decent deal and always throws in a "yapa" or free gift with his purchases. After lunch, Jennie heads off to school and Ella heads to a nap. One tradition John has started is making fresh orange juice. Oranges are very cheap and you can get about a dozen for a dollar. With a hand squeezer John makes some fresh orange juice in the afternoon and stores it away for the morning. (Yum Yum. Come and visit and we will make you some.) When Jennie arrives home at around 6:30 we eat a small dinner (sometimes Jennie stops and picks up a chicken or some meat from the market) and then spend the 40 minutes or more it takes to heat up water and hand wash the dishes. The sun sets around 7:00 and typically we are settled in by 8:00 to do homework and relax. Of course added into these days are furniture shopping when necessary, trips to the market for household items, and grocery shopping. This will be our routine for the next fews months until language school ends. At that point our days will change and our schedule could look much different. Overall, very full days and little time to relax. But we are settling in well and enjoying our new routines and life in Bolivia.

The Bolivian Refridgerator Part 3

To add to the already crazy stories about buying furniture in Bolivia, I decided to share to story of the refrigerator. Last week my friend Derek and I traveled to a large outdoor market called the "Campasino" Market. It is basically a huge, overcrowded, confusing maze of stores filled with everything from pirated stereos and DVD's to half cooked goat heads hanging on a stick, oh, and an appliance store or two. So we found the appliance street and went into the garage where there was a row of fairly nice appliances to choose from. They had washers, refrigerators, toasters, microwaves etc. Most everything was new and in decent shape. We selected a nice looking LG refrigerator and talked the lady down to a price that was reasonable and in our budget. Next we hailed a taxi and the driver strapped it onto the back. As you can imagine more than half the fridge was hanging out the back of the car but what do you say, it's Bolivia. One lesson we learned in all this is that the guarantee for the appliance is actually taped to the outside of the box. Yes, the important document that assures you can have it fixed if broken is actually just taped to the outside of the box. Not exactly how we expected. Well, we got the fridge home and plugged it in to realize it didn't work. The motor was clicking but it didn't seem to turn on. We went back to the store a few days later and talked to the lady, hoping to get a new appliance, and she would not return the old one because somewhere in the hustle and bustle of moving the thing the guarantee had either fallen off or was misplaced. So... no new refrigerator. So, here we are the first day in our apartment and we have a brand new malfunctioning refrigerator, and no guarantee that says we can get it fixed without paying for the maintenance. Well, by the grace of God the service man was willing to come to the house on Sunday and check the machine out. Amazingly the man walked in the door and plugged it in and it worked!! Come to find out, the plugs in Bolivia are different and you don't plug the cord all the way in because it actually moves beyond the connection point and you get no charge!!! Who would have thought! So, the refrigerator worked after all and we now know that if the plug looks as if it is falling out... it's actually just where it needs to be. I'm sure the Bolivian man had a good laugh as he walked out the door. We paid him 20 Bolivianos to plug in our new refrigerator!!

WE ARE IN!

We are officially in our new home! It was a crazy week buying major appliances and getting them up to the 5th floor of our apartment building but we are so happy and excited to be here. We have a functioning kitchen and we each have a mattress on the floor. We look forward to acquiring other things like a table, chairs, and a couch to sit on soon!

Many of you have asked if we have a new mailing address. The answer is no. In Bolivia mail is not delivered to your residence. Instead people have P.O. boxes. Since it is difficult to get a post office box, we are using the FH office PO box. This is the address that is on the back of our prayer card. The other missionary in town goes to check the mail once a week. So if you send us something he will deliver it to us! So our address is still:

Food for the Hungry

John and Jennie Warden

Casilla 879

Sucre, Bolivia, South America

FH Retreat in Cochabamba

Last weekend we were in Cochabamba for a FH staff retreat. The first two days of the retreat were for all FH staff in Bolivia. There were around 75 of us total, most were Bolivians. As you can imagine the content of the first two days was all in Spanish. There were a few people there who could speak English so during each session there was a mob of white people in the back surrounding our interpreter. Despite the language barrier it was a really neat few days to just observe the staff and see their dedication to the work they are doing in Bolivia. These days were broken into sessions where we talked about FH goals for the year, had devotionals, motivational speakers and testimonials of the work God has been doing in Bolivia. We also spent plenty of time doing crazy Bolivian games where we all got to know each other better. Below is a picture of a game we all know with a little twist. We played paper, rock, scissors, only you had to use your whole body to display your signal. The man on the right is paper and the man on the left is scissors.

The final two days of the retreat was for international staff only. (AKA missionaries). It was really fun to meet some of the other missionaries from La Paz and Cochabamba. Many of the missionaries are from the US, but there was also a couple from the UK as well as a woman from Japan. It was a nice break to be among people who are "like us" as we spent much of our time being "unlike" everyone around us.

The Bolivian Mattress Part 2

It didn’t take long for us to create another story about furniture. Only a few days later we headed out to find a few mattresses to sleep on. We figured we could get by without a bed for a while if we had a mattress to sleep on. We found the store and went inside to check them out. Now Jennie and I are not expert Spanish speakers so trying to negotiate a price in a foreign language, with a foreign currency, and on a bed mattress in meters was not an easy task. After laying on a few mattresses we picked two in our budget an decided to go with them. One mattress for John and Jennie, and one for Ella who will be moving into a “big bed” when we get to the apartment. We finalized a good price and once again hailed a taxi to take to the apartment. After strapping our brand new mattresses onto the top of 1970’s Volvo, we headed off to the apartment. We decided we would have Jennie jump out and run around to the front door and open it up for us to carry the mattresses in. For security purposes you don’t want to leave things outside, especially at night, for very long. Even if you are standing with your item it can be dangerous. Not really thinking ahead, we just figured we could work out some sort of scenario where we could get the two mattresses, ourselves, and a baby in a stroller up to the apartment at the same time once we got them into the security of the lobby. . The taxi guy dropped us off at the door and we unloaded the mattresses while Jennie ran around to open the door. After about 3 minutes of waiting I got a phone call on my phone and it was Jennie saying, “where are you at? I am by the door and I don’t see you.” Yes, as you can imagine once again we told the taxi driver the wrong door. We were at the entrance to the other building. By now the driver had left and it was Jennie, Ella and I left there to carry two large mattresses around the building and up to the 5^th floor. We tried every scenario we could think of but we just couldn’t move the two mattresses as well as push Ella’s stroller at the same time. (up a hill by the way). So we came up with another plan. John hauled the small mattress into the parking garage and convinced the security guard to come and help him move the large mattress. We got to the elevator and loaded up the small mattress and up went Jennie, Ella and the mattress. John and the security guard then maneuvered the large mattress all around and of course could not fit it into the elevator. So up 5 flights of stairs we went. Luckily the security guard was a nice guy and was willing to help us. I am not sure what we would have done without his help. We gave him a nice tip for his efforts. So, that is the story of the Bolivian mattresses. Nothing is ever easy and we are learning that nothing goes as expected. I guess that is just the adventures of living in a foreign country!

The Bolivian Stove Part 1

One of our first tasks when arriving in Bolivia was to find a permanent place to live. We checked the local newspaper the first week we arrived and low and behold the first place we visited had everything we needed and was in a perfect location for our family. We moved quickly and a week later signed the contract. The challenge with our new place of residence though, is that it is completely unfurnished. We thought you might enjoy hearing a few of our first furniture/moving experiences. Priority one was a stove. The landlord wanted to have the gas guy come sometime before we moved in so that he could hook everything up at once. That meant that if we could have the stove in place early we could take advantage of his "all in one" visit. Therefore my friend Derek and I (Derek is another missionary that lives in Sucre and works for Food for the Hungry) went to the local appliance place on Sunday evening to purchase the stove. As to be expected nothing happens fast and we spent an hour just filing out the paperwork and purchasing the stove. By this time it was getting late (on a Sunday evening) and it was dark. We drug the stove down to the street and hailed a taxi to take us to the apartment. After cramming the stove into the back of a hatch back car we took off for the apartment. Now the apartment is one of two buildings side by side and each building has several entrances and a parking garage. Not exactly sure of where to enter the building, Derek and I found the parking garage, which has an elevator, and asked the driver to drop us off there. We headed down the garage ramp looking for the elevator and noticed a short plump Bolivian man sitting at the entrance giving us a weird look. We moved on and starting searching through the garage. Keep in mind this whole time we are carrying a stove! Come to find out we were in the wrong parking garage. We hauled the thing back up the ramp and nodded awkwardly at the little Bolivian man who was now grinning ear to ear as to say, I knew you would be lugging that thing back up this ramp. Finally, after carrying the thing back around the building we found our entrance and headed up the elevator. When we got to the apartment we noticed something odd, the lights in the kitchen were on. I thought, that's weird since Jennie and I haven’t moved in and the landlord is the only other person with a key. We went inside and noticed the door to the kitchen was locked. Obviously the stove went in the kitchen so that was a problem. We knocked on the door and heard a woman’s voice say in Spanish “just one moment.” Completely confused, we waited outside the kitchen for our mystery woman to open the door. After about 3 minutes a short Bolivian woman opened the door and scurried out with a towel around her head. Come to find out she was the maid and she had been cleaning the apartment and decided to take a shower in the bathroom next to the kitchen before she left! Needless to say she was pretty embarrassed and didn’t stick around to help us move the stove into place. So…. that is the adventure of the Bolivian stove. Where is a good Lowe’s with free delivery when you need them!