BACK TO BOLIVIA

Rugged mountains. Beautiful green fields of potatoes, corn, abba beans. Adobe homes hidden in the landscape. Fires coming out from darkened doorways. Dirty faces of children peering curiously. Weathered toes that look like animal feet. Potatoes served hot, cold, with homemade cheese, with pasta, in soup, with rice, peeled, not peeled. Campo life filled with hardship, toil, sickness, death and dirt.
These things have not changed in the last 8 years since we left Sorocoto, Bolivia. They were all so familiar to us as we drove into the mountains last Tuesday. At times, it felt like we had never left. But then when we made it to Sorocoto and began to visit our dear friends, 8 years seemed more like 20 years as our friends had noticeably aged and their children had grown from being children in our Sunday School class to being parents themselves with 3-4 children already. It was awesome to be with Simon again, the main church leader in our community. His hair had more gray, but his spirit was still young and full of the joy of the Spirit. He told us that we were like family to him and when he heard we were coming his heart was so happy. We felt the same way toward him and it was awesome to be in his presence again and be encouraged by his incredible faith. He is an amazing man of God whose heart for the Lord continues to grow even in the midst of hardship and sometimes being the only man who is following Jesus in his village. God’s timing was perfect as we were able to encourage him and also encourage other brothers who had left the church for various reasons. The church was full of young people who had attended the Sunday School many years ago and now were singing praises out of the Quechua hymnal and listening to the Word of God. We walked over to see our friend, Juan, who helped us build our house. As we sat and ate more potatoes we listened to him tell us how he now had 4 kids, how he had gone to the city to work but had come back so he could be home with his young children. He had also taken steps to follow Jesus, but for various cultural reasons had not yet made a full commitment. He came later to the church that day to help with the piñata we had brought out for the kids and he also participated in the church service. It was good to be with Juan. Our time in Sorocoto ended with Simon and the church making a circle around us and praying for us. Awesome.
We sadly didn’t see Fransisco (the other church leader) since he and his family had moved to another city a few years ago. We were also sad to hear that my dearest friend, Sinforosa was in the city and not living in Sorocoto. When I heard that news I was sad that we wouldn’t visit with her family in the campo, but I was hopeful that we could find her once we got back to the city. The next morning we drove back to Sucre and were able to call her husband Alejandro (a huge difference in the campo was that many of our friends now had cell phones!) and we picked him up and drove to their home which was a large room that they rent. Words cannot fully explain all the emotion that was felt during that time spent with Sinforosa and her family. We all cried a lot when we first saw each other and I couldn’t stop crying every time I looked at Sinforosa’s daughter Heidi (who is now 11 years old). My sweet friend Karina (Sinforosa’s daughter who was 11 when we left) was full of life and spunk, just like she was when we lived in Sorocoto. She pulled me to a corner alone after I began to ask more about her 5 year old daughter. She explained to me what had happened to her one night 6 years ago when she was walking home from school. I cried as I held her and heard about the pain she had experienced, but also about the love she has for her daughter, who’s father is unknown. We also heard of other accidents and hardships that had happened during the 8 years we had been gone. Our time that day was sweet and short and wonderful and sad. A day that I will always remember. The Lord blessed us those two days with incredible reunions with our dear friends… a dream come true. My passion for serving and loving the poor in other cultures was still burning bright and I even began to dream of what I would want to do if we lived in Sorocoto again. I jokingly told Pete, “Maybe it’s time for Sorocoto part 2.” We both had ideas of what we would do now if we were to go back… disciple the youth in the church, focus on strengthening the families in the community, encourage the brothers to love their neighbors and reach out to those who don’t know Jesus with the love of Christ and also focus on the abundant life we have in Christ… not just the cultural do’s and don’ts of Christianity. The Lord is faithful and is not slow in keeping His promises. Our friends are in good hands and we can trust the Lord to carry them on and move them forward. It was hard to say goodbye again to Sorocoto and to Bolivia, but we left with full and thankful hearts. Thank you to those of you who were praying for our time in Sorocoto and also for Silas and Joe who stayed behind with B and Grandad. They did great, had a blast, and stayed healthy. God is so good and He is faithful.
(Check out the pictures below)