FBC Missions

This is actually Sam writing this post.

What does one really say when the largest snow storm in 10 years falls right on the Monday we were planning to leave? Is it a sort of divine intervention? Maybe. Should one say, “consider it pure joy my brothers when you face trial of many kinds?” Considering that we have been studying James as a group, this verse in Chapter 1 certainly comes to mind for many team members. I have no answers a this time, Only questions.

To put things a little more simply, We are stuck in Bolivia for another few days. A blizzard hit the city El Alto this morning. In case you need a little geography lesson, El Alto is a city that rests on a high plateau almost 2000 ft above La Paz, the Capital of Bolivia. It is the location of the airport for La Paz, an airport that is now completly snowed in.

This was difficult for many members of our team. Many of them are feeling ill. Some of them have jobs that should start on Wednesday. I think many people feel ready to go home.

We put our clever little American minds together and tried to come up with different solution. One thought involved taking a 15 hour bus ride to Lima, Peru and catching a 6 AM on Tuesday morning. But it wasn´t meant to be. The Police have put up blockades on all the roads because of the weather. Bolivia knows blockades the way America knows football (not soccer, the kind with tackling.) Dan says that it is normal to expect one or two major blockades per month.

The plan for now is to wait in La Paz until our Thursday morning flight. It is not snowing here in La Paz, just a little rainy. We checked back into our hotel and are ready to wait out the storm and the flood of other travelers that have had their plans screwed up.

I am confident that this will make sense someday. You just need a kingdom perspective. God is keeping us in Bolivia for a reason. We have something left to learn, something we still need to experience. We can only wait.

It is not entirely frustrating. While waiting at the airport, Paul and I (Sam) went outside and constructed a snow llama. We attracted the attention of many people who were amused by the two crazy Gringos embracing their child-like creativity. One of the people was a newspaper photographer who snaped our picture. We’ll check the newstands tomorrow. The creative release helped me vent some deep-seated frustration. It also cheered up a few people frustrated travellers and airline employees.

Pray for us in the next few days. Pray for our colds, sinus infections, and stomach problems. Pray that Winston does not develope a strange tropical monkey disease. Pray that our team can avoid getting frustated with each other and avoid getting too restless. Pray that we can find the Peace of God here in La Paz.

People can make all sorts of plans. But thing will certainly change. Flexibility has a completly different meaning here. Dan said that every time he asks a question involving “why,” his wife will always give this same 5-word answer.

“Because we live in Bolivia.” 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 9:33 am and is filed under Bolivia 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.