Oh and Bubba got his Driver's License :)
Monday, August 25, 2008
The SAM guesthouse
Just wanted to briefly describe where we've been living for the past 2 1/2 weeks and share a few pictures. The SAM guesthouse is a really nice piece of property. There is a couple who lives here as the host and hostess and they have their own private rooms and kitchen. Then there is a communal kitchen and living area. All of that is one building. Two other buildings hold all of the guestrooms (eight I think?) and they all open up onto a courtyard. Our kids love that it has a nice size yard and a playset, plus an upstairs balcony with a hammock. Although we are anxious to have our own space, this has been a good place to be. Our house should be ready this weekend, but we still have lots of big items to buy (stove, fridge, bed, sofa....) Please keep praying for us and this transition - specifically for our house and for us to get settled soon, for the kids and their continued adjustment to school, for our Spanish, and for our understanding of how God is already at work here in Bolivia and how we can best use our gifts to serve Him. Thank you for loving us so well!
Oh and Bubba got his Driver's License :)
Oh and Bubba got his Driver's License :)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Traffic, Jugglers, Street Kids and Huelgas
The traffic here is insane. Cars play a game of chicken with one another at the intersections. There is no order, no reason to the streets. I have been frustrated that my license has been delayed in getting here, but it should prove to be a good thing as I am learning how to negotiate these streets from the passenger side before I get behind the wheel.
At stoplights throughout the city jugglers and flag twirlers showcase their talents to earn a peso or two at each red light. I saw a guy today bouncing a ball on his head; actually appeared quite difficult. One kid the other day was passing torches under his armpits like nunchucks.
Canals run throughout the city to funnel rainwater during the rainy season. Now, during the winter, these canals are home to the so-called "street kids". Some are as young as 10 years old. They pass their days with their noses embedded in small plastic containers of glue. This stuff is like oxygen to them. They are literally high all the time.
There was a Paro Civico on Tuesday. This is a strike (huelga) that shuts down all commerce and transportation in the city. Santa Cruz and four other departments opposed to President Morales' use of the natural gas revenues from these departments called for the strike. The Beni, another opposition department, has vowed to cease their exportation of cattle to La Paz—so no meat for sale in the capital city. On Wednesday after the Paro several of the main highway arteries leaving Santa Cruz going towards commerce centers like Cochabamba were blockaded. Again, the purpose is to impede commerce, to stifle the flow of tax revenue to the government. Who knows where this will lead, probably nowhere—to political deadlock that is and more years of political and economic stagnation for Bolivia.
At stoplights throughout the city jugglers and flag twirlers showcase their talents to earn a peso or two at each red light. I saw a guy today bouncing a ball on his head; actually appeared quite difficult. One kid the other day was passing torches under his armpits like nunchucks.
Canals run throughout the city to funnel rainwater during the rainy season. Now, during the winter, these canals are home to the so-called "street kids". Some are as young as 10 years old. They pass their days with their noses embedded in small plastic containers of glue. This stuff is like oxygen to them. They are literally high all the time.
There was a Paro Civico on Tuesday. This is a strike (huelga) that shuts down all commerce and transportation in the city. Santa Cruz and four other departments opposed to President Morales' use of the natural gas revenues from these departments called for the strike. The Beni, another opposition department, has vowed to cease their exportation of cattle to La Paz—so no meat for sale in the capital city. On Wednesday after the Paro several of the main highway arteries leaving Santa Cruz going towards commerce centers like Cochabamba were blockaded. Again, the purpose is to impede commerce, to stifle the flow of tax revenue to the government. Who knows where this will lead, probably nowhere—to political deadlock that is and more years of political and economic stagnation for Bolivia.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Bolivian First
We went to church today with two other missionary families, and afterwards went out to lunch. One family has an 8 year old boy, who ordered chicken hearts for lunch! So.....guess who in our family ate some chicken hearts today....Sam, Ty, and no surprise, Bubba. ACK!!!!! Which they loved, all three of them!!
Friday, August 15, 2008
If anyone wants to send us letters (hint hint :), just mail them to the SAM home office. They send down a package once a month. Anything other than letters, you can mail to the home office and it will be sent down whenever anyone comes to Bolivia and has room. The only other option is DHL, but that is pretty expensive. The address is as follows:
South America Mission
The Massey Family
1021 Maxwell Mill Rd.
Fort Mill, SC 29708
South America Mission
The Massey Family
1021 Maxwell Mill Rd.
Fort Mill, SC 29708
Recent Pictures
Our kid's first day of school in Bolivia. The space around them is the SAM base where we are staying right now.
Sam, Georgia and Ty with their friends Clay, Hugh and Hudson Bright, in the States the day before we left to come to Bolivia.
Angela and some of the women of our core support team.
Bubba and the guys of our core support team. I don't know why Barclay is holding his breast.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The First Days in South America
In some ways "this world" as Ty calls it is not unlike our home in the States. We see the same stars at night, the same moon, feel the same heat of the day, slap mosquitoes off our legs just like we do in our backyard in Virginia in August. But we know we are in a world new to us when we see Quechua women in their traditional dress and braids sitting on street corners selling their wares, or when the wind kicks up sand from the earth and it blows across highways and through windows like smoke from a burning forest.
This new world is one we have been imagining for two years. It was two years ago exactly when we came to Bolivia for the first time, when we first sensed God leading us to come here. Two years is a long time to hope and pray for a place. Now that we are here, I do find myself saying, "I can't believe we are here, in the middle of South America."
Well, the first days have been busy. We are staying at the South America Mission guesthouse which is in the middle of a working class neighborhood right next to a WhiskerÃa called Los Patos that on Monday and Tuesday nights has drunken karaoke sing-a-longs until 4am. We will be here until we move into a house, which we think we have found, it will just be a couple weeks until it is ready.
Sam and Georgia have started school. They attend a school called Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center that has students mostly of American, Bolivian, Korean and Japanese nationalities. Ty will stay at home for another year; he is excited for this as often he remarks that he is happy to be at home with his momma.
Yesterday Angela and I bounced around the city in a taxi with a Bolivian woman who escorted us to Interpol, a Clinic for blood tests and to a Notary. We are working on acquiring our visas and these errands are a part of this process.
On Sunday there was a national election, the "revocatorio", called by President Morales in response to the states of the Media Luna recently passing referendums expressing their desire to be autonomous of the Morales government. Morales called for the election to once again show he has a majority support, which he does, as he garnered 60% "si" on Sunday. The governors of the Bolivian states were also up for re-election—three were removed, seven were reinstated. Evo was hoping that governors of the opposition states would be removed, but they were not. So, despite Morales' victory on Sunday, this election may only serve to deepen the political crisis as the opposition forces remain largely in tact and emboldened by their wins. The political crisis is complex, but fundamentally it centers around a battle between Socialist and Capitalist ideologies.
We are anxious to get settled and begin our work here. We are looking to find a house in a strategic neighborhood where our neighbors will form the core of a church body. We will work primarily with the professional class of Santa Cruz. Pray for relationships to form and genuine contexts within which we can be about the work to which God has appointed us.
This new world is one we have been imagining for two years. It was two years ago exactly when we came to Bolivia for the first time, when we first sensed God leading us to come here. Two years is a long time to hope and pray for a place. Now that we are here, I do find myself saying, "I can't believe we are here, in the middle of South America."
Well, the first days have been busy. We are staying at the South America Mission guesthouse which is in the middle of a working class neighborhood right next to a WhiskerÃa called Los Patos that on Monday and Tuesday nights has drunken karaoke sing-a-longs until 4am. We will be here until we move into a house, which we think we have found, it will just be a couple weeks until it is ready.
Sam and Georgia have started school. They attend a school called Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center that has students mostly of American, Bolivian, Korean and Japanese nationalities. Ty will stay at home for another year; he is excited for this as often he remarks that he is happy to be at home with his momma.
Yesterday Angela and I bounced around the city in a taxi with a Bolivian woman who escorted us to Interpol, a Clinic for blood tests and to a Notary. We are working on acquiring our visas and these errands are a part of this process.
On Sunday there was a national election, the "revocatorio", called by President Morales in response to the states of the Media Luna recently passing referendums expressing their desire to be autonomous of the Morales government. Morales called for the election to once again show he has a majority support, which he does, as he garnered 60% "si" on Sunday. The governors of the Bolivian states were also up for re-election—three were removed, seven were reinstated. Evo was hoping that governors of the opposition states would be removed, but they were not. So, despite Morales' victory on Sunday, this election may only serve to deepen the political crisis as the opposition forces remain largely in tact and emboldened by their wins. The political crisis is complex, but fundamentally it centers around a battle between Socialist and Capitalist ideologies.
We are anxious to get settled and begin our work here. We are looking to find a house in a strategic neighborhood where our neighbors will form the core of a church body. We will work primarily with the professional class of Santa Cruz. Pray for relationships to form and genuine contexts within which we can be about the work to which God has appointed us.
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