Day 92 - Berea Celebration, Part 2

Berea Celebration, Part II

In Exodus, Miriam and other women took tambourines and danced before the Lord.  In 2^nd Samuel, David leaped and danced before the Lord.  In Psalm 149 and 150 it talks about praising the Lord with dancing. 

I write this because some Christians are going to read my blogs where I talk about the people of Berea dancing, or the youth jumping in worship services.  What they are doing is quite biblical.  You might not see it in your church, but maybe your church is not as on fire for God as it should be. 

Berea is a church on fire.  Percy and Debbie became pastors of this church 20 years ago, a young couple with a little baby girl.  There were only 25 members at the time and the church seemed doomed.  Lots of prayer and lots of time devoted to discipleship has transformed Berea into a church with around 400 members, a dynamic youth group of several hundred, two full morning services, hundreds participating in church services every night of the week, except Fridays, and many young men becoming leaders of the future.  I mention about the young men, because most churches seem to be dominated by women who take up the slack when the men aren’t there to do the job.  Berea seems to be overflowing with young men with a passion for Christ.

I wrote an earlier blog about the yearly celebration.  The combined morning service was packed to overflowing.  It wasn’t a preaching service, rather a praise and worship service.  It was three hours long, but was not boring and dreary.  I cried and I laughed.  I was surprised when it was over that it lasted as long as it did.

Well, the service wasn’t over.  Everybody went home for a few hours and then came back for part 2.  When I arrived, the parking lot was filled with tables and nicely dressed chairs.  It looked like a catered affair, but everything was organized by the church.  It seemed that almost everyone participated in either cooking, serving, or entertaining.

The food was good, though the meat was difficult to cut with plastic cutlery.  There was a steak with rice, yucca, and black-eyed peas.  And later a cake.

While we ate, we were entertained by dancing.  My favorite was a group of girls and ladies who danced to Hebrew music.  In the middle one young man blew the shofar.  I don’t know if they know that Rosh-Hashanah is a week away, but I could imagine the trumpet being sounded to call us home.

I spent three hours talking with a missionary from La Paz, and Pastor Percy and Debbie.  The fellowship was beautiful. 

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians that everything should be done in an orderly way in a worship service. The dancing here was well-done and orderly.  It was meant to enhance the beauty of the music and lead the worshiper into a deeper appreciation of the music.  I left feeling refreshed.  Tired from a busy weekend, but refreshed in my walk with the Lord.

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Spartan Sisters

Day 91 - Desfile

El Desfile

Friday, the 23^rd of September, we had no school.  Instead we had a parade.  Schools all over Santa Cruz participate.  All the staff and seniors were a part of it.  To be honest, even after it is done, I am a little confused about the whole event.  But I am here to tell you everything about this year in Bolivia, so here goes.

We were school number 43 in the parade, so we were not required to meet until 10:30.  A group would be going from the school at that time.  I had a ton of papers to grade, lesson plans to finish, and a few things to copy for the upcoming week.  I arrived at school around 8:30, so I had two hours to get a little of the pile of work that needed completion.  At 10:30, ten of us piled into taxis and went to an area nearby.

By the time we arrived it was hot.  I doubt it was much more than 90, but after such a nice winter, that 90 felt like a scorching 100.  The tropical sun, when full force on your head is unbearably hot.  Here the normal thing would be to look for a shade tree, instead we had a parade.

When we arrived, we met others from our school and more arrived in the next minutes.  Almost immediately we were told number 41 is marching, so we need to line up.  Others said 44 is marching so we were late.  From my limited perspective, it was disorganized.

About five minutes after arriving, I found myself marching down the street.  Looking around at my group, I realized several teachers were missing and at least two of the seniors.  We passed by the viewing stand and suddenly it was over.  It lasted about five minutes total.

We took a few pictures in the hot sun and went our way.  For the seniors, this is one of their memorable events of their last year of school.  For old people like me, I was just a fat roasted pig!  I was ready to meet some friends and go to the mountains. 

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Spartan Sisters

Day 90 - My Friends Take Me to the Mountains

My Friends Take Me to the Mountains

After our parade in the baking sun, I met some friends from school, Fernando and Mariela, and their daughter, Michaela.  A few weeks before they had offered to take me to visit their second home in Samaipata, a town in the mountains.  Also going were Inoshka and Martha, two of the school’s Spanish teachers, and Shirley, a lady volunteering at the school this year.  At the last moment, they invited Rebecca and her boys Matias and Marcos.

We drove down the road to Fernando and Mariela’s house in La Guardia, a little town just west of Santa Cruz, where we changed from our parade clothes into jeans and t-shirts.  We bought some snacks at the La Guardia market, then drove another 20 minutes down the same road to El Torno, where Rebecca lives.  It was the spur of the moment for her to go with us, so she packed and grabbed her two boys.  Marcos was sitting with me in the back seat.  About half of the way he slept, but the other half he told stories about where he had been, including to places he could never have been to.  He is only four, so has a vivid, if not always honest imagination.

La Guardia

Honey seller at La Guardia

Rebecca's fruit trees

The flat lands of Santa Cruz, quickly gave way to the hills on the farthest eastern edge of the Andes.  Soon it was twisting and winding through these hills and the temperature dropped as we got higher and higher.  It rained for much of the drive and the rain washed the smoke out of the sky.  Santa Cruz this time of year is covered in smoke from fires in the countryside, and the city sometimes, trying to burn debris of fields so they can start growing new crops.  Soon the smoke was behind us.

We soon hit the little town of Samaipata.  I will write a separate blog on the town, but to introduce you to the setting, Samaipata is a small town that looks very colonial.  Everything is old.  Flowers are blooming everywhere.  The climate here is perfect.   It rarely gets about the mid-80s and rarely freezes.  Nights are cold and days are comfortable.  The weather makes it the perfect place to grow flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, and grape vines. 

You can see into my room

Fernando and Mariela’s house is beautiful.  They have plans for its future, including renting out space for the weekends, and a few other ideas when they decide to retire.  It is a very typical Bolivian house of the past, with a garden in the middle, an open air living area, and several bedrooms and bathrooms on the other side of the garden.  Yes, my bedroom was across the garden, meaning I had to walk outside to go from the kitchen to my bedroom.

We had a simple meal, walked around the plaza in the rain, and bought an ice cream.  When we came back we had a time of prayer and sharing.  These three ladies, Mariela, Martha, and Inoshka, believe in prayer.  They prayed for each other, the school, and the new teachers struggling to learn the culture and language of Bolivia.  They asked me to give my testimony of how I came to Bolivia.  I did not know it would make me cry, but the Holy Spirit was present.  When He is there, things happen you don’t expect. 

Fernando fell asleep early, as did the kids, but the rest of us stayed awake till 1:00.  Well, at least I stayed awake until 1:00.  I later found out some of the ladies were up till 2:30. What did we do all that time?  We told stories, we laughed, we tried to figure out Martha’s middle name.  It is a beautiful name, but I promised I would not say it.  I laughed so much.  I felt at home, with family.

Our mouths were filled with laughter and our tongues with joyful songs.  The Lord has done spectacular things for us.  We are overjoyed!  Psalm 126.

I will do another blog I said about Samaipata, and I will have to do another blog about the Inca ruins, but most of Saturday was taken up with being a tourist, talking with Shirley or Martha while walking the 7K of the Inca ruins, and enjoying the beauty of Samaipata.  Inoshka, a Russian name for a beautiful Bolivian lady, made a delicious lunch.  Before I knew it, I was in a taxi heading back to Santa Cruz with Rebecca and Shirley, and Rebecca’s two boys.  It was too short of a weekend, but one filled with memories.

I stole this picture from Fernando, since he was in none of the pictures because he was always taking pictures.

Even though I will see them all on Monday at school, the goodbyes felt like goodbyes to family.  My Bolivian family grew this weekend with seven new members. 

Let me quote a line of a song to explain to you what Bolivia does to you.

“Viva Santa Cruz, bella tierra de mi Corazon.” (Long live Santa Cruz, beautiful land of my heart)

It enters your heart and becomes part of you.  Yes, this poverty stricken little country that will never be great in the eyes of the world, changes your heart.  Bolivia, you will ever be in my heart.  Thank you God, for choosing me to be sent here.

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The Spartan Sisters

Day 89 - Seek the Lord While He May Be Found

Buscad a Jehova Mientras Pueda Ser Hallado

That is the theme of the 2016 celebration at Berea Church.  In English it can be found in Isaiah 55:6 and says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found.”  The church and Debbie, my pastor’s wife, have been talking about this for weeks.  I almost cancelled my trip to Samaipata to make sure I was here.  I am glad now I did both.

Usually Berea has two services, one at 8:00 and one at 10:00.  Today they combined both services and started at 8:00.  It was a three-hour long service, but did not feel like it was that long. 

As usual, they began with the praise and worship.  Probably you would define both as the same thing, but in my mind they are different.  The praise is to get you, the individual, into a state of joy before God.  It is a time of reminding ourselves what God has done for us and celebrating.  Berea truly does celebrate.  As we would shout or jump for joy at a football game, Berea shouts and jumps before God. 

From there you move into worship.  It is deeper, more reverent, and often quieter.  It is meant to be God-centered.  We are moved out of the picture as we concentrate on God.  I am one of those people, if I get where I am supposed to be during worship, that I will cry.  I usually can’t explain why I cry.  I think it is because I discover once again where I am supposed to be.

After the worship, Berea had a time of sharing in music and drama.  Gustavo, one of the worship leaders, sang a beautiful song accompanied by the guitar, followed by Erika, another worship leader, and another girl singing a song in English.  Debbie and Shekinah, past and present students, sang a beautiful duet.  There were so many songs, I lost track of who all sang.

My favorite song was a group singing accompanied by music of the mountains, the sounds of the Quechua and Aymara Indians.  They have the most haunting melodies that seem to be something born of the mountains.  Here are some of the words of one song:

Si no tienes dinero (if you don’t have money)

Y no tienes quien te dé (and no one cares for you)

Clama a mi dice el Señor (call to me, says the Lord)

Yo te responderé (I will answer you)

En el tiempo de gozo (in the time of joy)

En el tiempo de dolor (in the time of pain)

Clama a mi, dice el Señor (call to me, says the Lord)

Yo te responderé (I will answer you)

That was my translation.  I would be glad if anyone corrects it for me.  It had me in tears. 

But those tears were wiped away with the funniest 20-minute skit I might have ever seen.  Noel, another one of the worship leaders, played a fierce pirate.  While drinking with his pirate buddies, they decide to go on a quest to the mysterious island to find vast amounts of treasure of the Aztecs.  They sail across the sea and land on the mysterious island, only to have one sailor after another captured.  Finally, they do discover the treasure, but it is guarded by women warriors.  The remaining three defeat the warriors, but as soon as they do, two of the pirates turn on the captain and steal the treasure.  Once he sets himself free he meets a woman with a box.  She says she has the real treasure.  Inside the box is a book.  He begins to read about God sending his only son to save sinners.  He recognizes he is a sinner and repents.  He realizes he must seek for God while he is able to be found.  He finds his buddies and convinces them to do the same. 

The theme of this beautiful event, and the theme of Berea Church this year is “seek the Lord while he may be found.”  My friends, Jesus is returning soon.  We don’t want to see the signs around us, but they are there.  This world is crumbling around us.  Wars are raging or threats of war more vast than the two World Wars.  Sin and depravity abound.  Jesus said He will return.  He is returning soon.  And soon there will not be a day you and I can seek Him.  Heaven is not the default; Hell is the default.  All of us are destined for Hell, unless we seek they Lord while he may be found, and we find Him.

Have a blessed week, my friends.

Day 88 - Nice Cream

Nice Cream

No that is not a misspelling.  I meant to write Nice Cream.  That is the name of the coolest ice cream parlor I have been to in a long time.

This is one of my haunts on the Plaza 24 de Septiembre.  It is new.  When I was here in March, they were building the place.  All I knew was that it was going to be called Nice Cream. 

Since arriving in July, I discovered it is finished.  The correct spelling is N₂ice Cream.  The N is for nitrogen.

This evening I went out to Nice Cream with my friends, Sandra and Andrea, and Sandra’s two boys.  They had never been here, so I was able to introduce them to this cool ice cream parlor.

When they take your order, they mix the ice cream in front of you.  Apparently the recipe has to be precise, so they weigh everything as it is put in the mixture.  Then they put it in the blender which is chilled to -192◦ Celsius with liquid nitrogen.  In about 3 minutes, voilà, you have a delicious ice cream.

Tonight I chose pistachio. 

I was going to leave my friends and go to the mall to get a shirt.  The 23^rd of September we have a parade that the seniors and teachers are a part of.  We are required to wear white shirts in the parade and I don’t have a plain white shirt.

Well, they didn’t want me to take a taxi to the mall.  They said there are shirt shops around the corner.  I had never noticed the two places they took me.  The first had beautiful shirts, but none in white, in my size.  The second had a gorgeous blue shirt that I almost bought, and a nice white shirt in my size for about $20. 

We walked backed to the Plaza and I said goodbye to them and walked around a bit before heading home. 

A “Nice” evening.