Travels, Thoughts, and Arsenic

Hello, hello!! It’s been a good few days without internet, but it’s nice to have it back now! I’m writing on this lovely Saturday afternoon having just gone shopping and made bologna-and-cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches with potato chips for Eysel and I. She and the baby haven’t slept through a night in nearly 5 days…Genesis has a cough to end all coughs. And when you’re about ready to keel over, nobody does comfort food like Americans.

Also on the good-news list: I am basically 100% back to normal health-wise! I'm still noticing the weakness when walking (oh who are you kidding Cat, you're just really out of shape), and am living up to my reputation to be able to sleep 11 hours a night even with an afternoon nap, but all in all I'm feeling much, much better - praise the Lord! 

Updates from the past weeks:

At the beginning of March I traveled to Sucre with Esther to a large, well-established Christian clinic there. We spent two days seeing long-term pediatric cerebral palsy patients and working with kids on speech therapy. It was so cool to see another Christian clinic and the wonderful work they’re doing in the lives of the patients and their families from Sucre. We stayed at Esther’s family’s house, whose dad is a pastor, and whose whole family is a blast. Good food, good jokes, and good laughter.

The second day I taxied back to Potosi and almost immediately left for Yawisla, out in the countryside of Bolivia where the Hawthorne’s spent 15 years of their ministry. The town is nestled in a valley and the whole area is stunningly beautiful. I spent the weekend reading books, playing with the local kids, cooking with Mary, climbing ridges to watch sunsets, and star-gazing at the most magnificent night sky I’ve ever seen. It was a good time, to say the least.

I have a semi-official date of departure for La Paz! I’ll be heading out at the beginning of the last week in March – looking at the 26^th or 27^th.  Praise the Lord for flexibility and encouraging support from the team in La Paz! They are such a blessing.

On Thursday I visited a mine. It was absolute insanity. Literally a once-in-a-lifetime-experience, first because there aren’t very many other places in the world where the tour guide would sit the group down for a chat and forget to mention the dynamite explosion that’s about to go off 50 feet away 10 seconds later, and secondly because I probably would not volunteer to go again. As we were scaling vertical openings in air so thick with dust our headlamps were basically useless, I just kept thinking of the cave tours in the States where they make you sign a paper saying it’s going to be a bit chilly and don’t let you touch the walls. I’m pretty sure the extent of the fore-warning this time was about 10 feet from the entrance: Tour guide - “Anybody got asthma? Pregnant? Claustrophobic? Good, let me know if you can’t breathe.” It took a long shower to get the smell of sulfur and arsenic out of my hair. Don’t worry – apparently arsenic in small quantities is good for your nervous system. In large quantities not so much. I have some (sort-of) pictures that I’ll put up, but the stories are better told in person, so ask me about it when I get back!

Prayer

Although my writing about the mine experience was somewhat lighthearted just then, it was also a very tangible exposure to the darkness and hopelessness of the men working there day to day. The tour took us by one of the Tio (or Devil) idols, and it was shocking to come face to face with that which is so subtle in the US. The sheer audacity of Satan, to claim authority where the Son of God has DIED to redeem, is stunning. But of course, he does it everywhere, it's just much more visible here. There is no government control or over-arching structure in the mining community once you're inside the mountain; it's a shockingly clear picture of what happens when humans in all their depravity have free rein. There are simply self-declared groups of miners, not unlike gangs, and the bigger ones kill the smaller ones when there's a conflict. It's reminiscent of Lord of the Flies. There are some Christian miners, the Hawthorne's have met two, but the opposition has got to be incredible. But can you imagine the power of a few who are committed to sharing the gospel daily, no matter the cost?? Pray, pray, pray for God to raise up a generation of miners whose hearts have been captured by the King, and who will literally bring light into darkness. 

CEMFY (the name of the clinic here; stand for Centro de Medicina Familiar Yawisla) had an emergency patient 3 days ago who had broken his back last week falling from a tree while harvesting on his farm. He spent nearly 6 days in his house before his family got him to us, and he’s completely paralyzed from the waist down. He has sons, but they all live in other cities, and if nothing changes, his wife is completely without a provider. I held her while she cried as the doctors tried to get him onto a stretcher to move him to the local hospital, and the team here just keeps praying for a miracle. PLEASE pray with us – this family is selling nearly everything they have just to get tests done, and they have nothing to pay for whatever those show needs to be done.

Other CEMFY prayer request: The clinic is currently in the process of looking at options for moving location – the current place is expensive and has other issues. So far the search has been unsuccessful – please pray for the Lord to guide the leadership in where He wants this clinic so that it can best serve the people of this area with the love of Jesus.

For me – opportunities to talk about Jesus. The other day when the paralyzed patient was at the clinic with his family, I felt over and over again that God wanted me to go to them, read Scripture, and just talk with them. I found excuse after excuse, mostly regarding my limited Spanish, and never did. It is something that I deeply regret, and that night the Lord gently led me to Exodus 3 and 4, to the story of Moses and the burning bush. At the climax of all of Moses’ excuses, and God’s repeated reassurances of His presence, Moses says,

“O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

The Lord said to him: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf of mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

Now go. I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

Exodus 4: 10-12

I have rarely felt so directly spoken to; so obviously, but tenderly, corrected by God. Well there you have it. I am to speak, despite my fears, despite by lack of vocabulary, despite my excuses. So Jesus, teach me what to say.

I love you all. Listen for His voice today.

Catherine