July 31st 2008

It amazes me that I have had three nights in a row where I have not have a good night sleep. The problem was stomach cramps this time, but they passed and I was able to go back to sleep. However, I did not want to get up when my alarm went off at eight. I did get up though to go downstairs and had breakfast. For breakfast I had a piece of bread and two glasses of water. During breakfast I talked with the other students about shopping in La Cancha and some of the unique gifts that we have seen here in Bolivia. After breakfast, I was still feeling tired so I went back to bed. When I got up again, I did my morning devotion and then received a phone call from Larry to let me know that his plans had changed for Friday. So we met today to go look for a gift that I want to give to the youth group. I quickly got ready and Larry came and took me to two different stores, but I did not find what I was looking for. We then discussed some possible plans for tomorrow before parting our separate ways. I headed to Casa de Nazeret on a micro that was quite full which made me a little nervous. However, there was more room on this micro so my head was not right next to the roof. As I walked up to Casa de Nazeret a little bit later than normal, once again a van with some of the boys passed me and so they all waved and yelled to greet me. Before I arrived at the boy’s home, I made a call to Juan to see if he wanted to have dinner with me tonight. He informed that he was unable to meet tonight because he was not feeling well. When I finally arrived at the home the gate was open so I just walked in. All the boys greeted me and then got changed out of their school clothes. While waiting for lunch to be ready, I talked with Tom about various topics to help me be informed about next week’s Independence Day and where to find some items that either I or someone else is looking for lunch. It was then time for lunch in which I had some lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, a piece of cheese, a hardboiled egg, and a potato all covered in a spicy peanut sauce. During lunch, I talked with the boys about school, somehow talking about family members who had died came up as well, and we talked about what is normally eaten during the week by everyone at the table. At lunch I noticed that one of the boys constantly held on to my alarm and then leaned on me until lunch was over. After lunch, I helped the other people there supervise the boys as they did their chores. Some of the boys finished their chores early so I watched them play soccer for awhile. It was then time for homework in which one boy came running to me and asked me to help him so I said I would. I helped him with fractions and then reviewed a summary he wrote of a story he read. Since, I helped this boy with his homework; he finished early so he decided to color. While coloring he asked me why I had earrings. He also wanted to know why my arms were hairy and the boys all this week have asked me to flex for them so they could see my muscles. After homework, I went to the park with another missionary to play soccer with the boys. We first worked on having them improve their skills. Then we played a game of adults versus boys since two other adults showed up. The adults did end up winning, but the boys played well and for the first time I felt really tired after physical activity. As soon as the soccer game was over we headed back to the house so the boys could shower and get ready for dinner. When all the boys had showered, they had some extra time before dinner so I helped one boy with his math homework. Before I left he was almost finished with all the problems correct, but wanted to finish the rest on his own. I then headed home without a problem, but had to wait until the third truffi passed me to get on because all the others were full. When I arrived home, I took some time to relax before dinner. For dinner, I had some kind of fried meat, with rice, a potato, carrots, tomatoes, onions, and a fried egg. At dinner, I had a lovely conversation with the other two students. We talked about our days and experience with classes. I was also informed that this would probably be the last time I see them because they leave tomorrow. Since, they are leaving and I may not see them again, we said our farewells to each other. Also, we talked about filling out evaluations for the school. We talked about keeping a journal, so I informed them of the blog that I have. They also made me feel good because they told me that I helped them out a lot and if I was not here they would not have gotten some important information. This, they said would be mentioned on their evaluations as well. The best part was that one have them had been taught how to pray today so I would be allowed to copy their notes and now I know how to pray as well. Susana came in during dinner to inform us that Lucas got his cast off today, but was in some pain so she was going out to get medicine for him. She also asked my advice about what happened in my situation and so I told her. The advice that I told her was that I remember being in pain on or two days after getting my cast off. Also, that I had some pain when I had to relearn how to walk. I forgot to mention that I remember that ice helped for the first night and then warm compresses helped me until I no longer had pain. After dinner, I copied their notes and then used the internet. For the second night in a row it was kind of late so I showered, said some night time prayers, and went to bed.