May 31st 2008

I woke up at eight fifteen this morning with body aches and terrible stomach pain. So I got up to see if I needed to use the bathroom. Upon my return from the bathroom I laid in bed until nine. At nine I got up and went down and had breakfast which was a cup of tea and a piece of bread. During breakfast I was reminded that today is the day that Luigi graduates from high school. I was asked if I wanted to go, but declined because I am not feeling well. However, I did get the opportunity to congratulate Luigi for getting his license to drive yesterday and for graduating high school today. After breakfast I did my morning devotion and then took some pictures of the house. Afterwards I still was not feeling well so I took some medicine and lay in bed praying that I would feel better. While lying in bed I remembered part of the conversation from dinner last night in which case I think that some of the meats that I was unsure of what I was eating was llama. Since my system is not used to this type of food; it has been a mess. I thought that I would have adjusted by now. At noon, I decide to get up and take some more medicine and see if moving around would help me feel better. Within a half of an hour of me getting up, Susana returned home to pick me up, so I could have lunch with her and the family at a restaurant. For lunch I had fried chicken, French fries, and rice. My stomach still hurts but it is not as awful as it was this morning. At lunch, I became more aware that this culture enjoys the sense of touch because all of the family members touched each other when in conversation. Also, Luigi’s girlfriend was there and just to observe and compare the way people show affection for one another is interesting. Unfortunately, when lunch was over, Lucas fell and cut his hand so Susana had to take him somewhere to get it treated. Susana’s sister brought Quique, his grandfather, and me back to the house. For most of the afternoon, I decide to practice the guitar before youth group tonight. When I was done practicing the guitar, I got ready to go to youth group. Tonight was the first night I had to get to youth group without any help because everyone was out of the house at the time that I needed to leave. So when I saw that it was starting to get dark at around six, I decided to leave. I left with my backpack filled with song books, a guitar in one hand and the address in the other. When I arrived at the main street I asked the taxi driver how much it would be to take me to the address for youth group. He told me it would cost twelve Bolivianos and I told him that the cab fare last week was only ten. The cab driver agreed to ten and then I asked him if he had change which he did so I got in. I was so proud of myself for being able to communicate in Spanish and then negotiate as well. I was the first one to arrive at youth group tonight so I helped set up by putting out cups and drinks. The meeting did not start well because the observation was made that a lot of people had left the group and Shawnee wanted to know if there needed to be reconciliation or pastoral care. Also, there was a discussion about what the group wanted to do as an activity. One idea was to work with Habitat for Humanity. No decision was made, but each of these discussions took a good amount of time. We then took some time for some much needed prayer. Afterwards we watched a movie on the story of Moses in the desert and then had a discussion about how God prepares people while they were in the desert. Tonight was the first night that my input was asked during the discussion, but I did not feel I understood enough nor had the right words to participate. Another good point tonight was that I was able to talk with the youth about their week and to tell them about mine. It was a good feeling because even though I am not deaf or mute, I have felt like it the past two weeks because I could not understand enough to express myself. Our time together ended in prayer as well. As soon as I returned home I did my night time devotion and showers. Tonight I went to bed having the feeling that next week I will have the confidence to participate in prayer and discussion. Another feeling I have is that I am happy that tomorrow is the first day of June.