I know it's well past Christmas, and that we've all moved on into the New Year, but we wanted to share about our Christmas here in Bolivia. Admittedly, it was hard at times to be so far away from family, friends, and all things that are familiar about Christmas. But we did have some good times and made some great family memories. In Latin cultures, Christmas Eve night is the big time for celebration, not Christmas Day. It's customary to spend Christmas Eve with family, having a meal around 11, shooting off fireworks at 12 am, and then opening all your presents. We were invited to spend Christmas Eve with some Bolivian friends who are involved with one of the Bible studies. They invited us and our teammates, the Kienzles. My first reaction was let's just "stop by". I didn't want our kids up until all hours, nor did I really want to stay up that late just for a bunch of fireworks either. So, after going to a Christmas Eve service at the English speaking church (which was great - very familiar, ending with a candle lit singing of Silent Night) we headed over to our friend's house. As soon as we walked in, I knew Bubba was going to be thrilled with our decision to go. There was a smoked pig, a whole pig, splayed out on the table complete with apple in it's mouth! We still had planned on only staying until 10 at the latest, but right about 10 fireworks were brought out to shoot off, making me a complete wreck. Not to worry, Bubba and our teammate Paul were great examples for our kids, shooting off bottle rockets while holding them, while standing on them, etc.......After a while, when I calmed down enough, I really enjoyed this new tradition. After all, if it was going to be 95 degrees, and if we weren't going to be with family, we may as well do something completely different! By this time, our kids were all wide awake and so excited, there was no way we could leave. So we enjoyed a good meal at 11:00 at night (some enjoyed that more than others:), and enjoyed a great time of fellowship with our friends. We managed to make it home right at midnight, when the skies exploded with fireworks like nothing we'd ever seen! It was 10 times what the fourth of July is, with fireworks not going off in a "controlled" manner but with every Pablo, Juan, and Jose shooting them off in the street in front of their house. The kids loved it, and though it wasn't our plan to let them stay up until all hours, I'm so glad we all had this Bolivian Christmas experience. And the four hour naps on Christmas day made it even better!
As for our New Year celebration, Bubba and I enjoyed the same display of fireworks from the comfort of our living room with the kids upstairs sleeping then waking up to the grand explosion. Then on New Year's Day we were invited by some Bolivian neighbors out to the "campo" to a lake for a "churasco" (cookout) and to swim. It was a beautiful place out in the country, and again was another great time of hanging out with Bolivian friends. The only drawback was the sunburn we all suffered from having stayed out all day. I can't seem to remember that we are far closer to the equator here and that 30 SPF doesn't cut it for all day in the sun!
All in all, it was a good holiday time. We're excited for these new friendships and are now gearing up for ministry to start up once again. Thank you for your continued prayers. Oh, one prayer request is that it is Dengue season. Dengue is a mosquito born illness that makes you really really sick. There is an epidemic this year, so please pray for our protection if you think of it.
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