From this day forward

Teodoro is a good friend and a Christian brother. We always said that whomever he married would have a wonderful husband. One day we heard that Teodoro ‘had a woman’. In this culture that means that he ‘married’, or that the woman has now moved into his house.

From what I can understand, the man goes to the house of his girlfriend and asks the father if she can come and live with him. The father agrees and the woman goes with the man. So, a few months ago it became apparent that Celia was now living with Teodoro. Since very few of the couples in this community are legally married, this arrangement was not unusual.

Last month Teodoro and Celia were married in a civil ceremony. This is not a big event and only the couple and their witnesses attend. The family usually does not attend the ceremony. The couple is asked if they know each other to be of sound character. Then they go through the vows which are very similar to those we use in the weddings in North America, the papers are signed and the couple is married.

Last Saturday we celebrated the religious wedding of Teodoro and Celia. And quite the affair it was. Each wedding we have attended in Bolivia has been quite different. This one was done in style. Words cannot describe it – I should have had a video camera. First seven girls entered with their escorts. The only ones we knew were Gerardo and Valeria Diaz. The rest were strangers to us; not members of either family. Then a small boy holding a Bible entered, followed by a small girl holding a plate with the rings. Following them were another two girls spreading petals. Then the bride entered with her parents from the side door and stopped in the middle. The lights went out and a spot light then followed the groom who had been sitting on an elevated throne at the rear of the church. When he reached the floor, his parents joined them and they proceeded to the place to where the bride was standing. The bride’s father invited the groom into their family and the groom’s father invited the bride into their family. Then the couple went down the aisle, followed by the parents. The ceremony took place.

Following the ceremony everyone moved across down to the Diaz house where the reception took place. The back yard was transformed into a wedding hall complete with white tents for the band and the bride and groom. It was quite luxurious and everything would have fit in a North American wedding. The receiving line was formed and each person would present their gift and give their greetings to the couple. If the gift was large, the photographer would take a picture of the couple with the presenters of the gift. Teodoro and Celia received 2 china cabinets and 4 roperos (cabinets for clothes). All the walls in their room will be covered with these pieces of furniture. According to Dionicio it became a ‘one upmanship’ game in which each person had to buy something at least as good, if not better, than the last. Jake went down two times to the local market to pick up more furniture – at 11:30 at night. The purchaser would call the merchant and the merchant would open the store and the piece would be selected and brought to the reception.

Finally, at 2 in the morning we left.

The next day there was the gift opening but we did not know that we were expected to be there. We went to church instead but someone was sent to retrieve us so that we would be there for lunch. When we returned once again, just before we went home, Celia was placing all the gifts in the cabinets. She had already filled the two china cabinets and still has boxes and boxes of glasses, cups, and plates that still could be unpacked.

A typical Bolivian wedding? Who knows? It was more posh than the other weddings we attended but certainly was not as posh as the other one that took place the same night in Yapacani. That couple received a car as a wedding present. And we thought everyone was poor in Bolivia!

I Have A Plan for You

We have felt like boats floating aimlessly in the water for the past ten months. Directionless, listless, without direction. In our hearts we knew that we had been in the right place but .... what now? A dwindling community, a community that was ‘on its feet’ financially. To stay or to go? How often we would pray for direction. How often we wanted to know where our paths would lead. We had no plan. We were living day by day ‘con calma’, not wanting to do anything rash.

But God was working his plan and it opened in a way that blew us away.

The story started when we first came to Bolivia. We attended the English service at the Calama Baptist Church. Also attending was a young man, Freddy Gutierrez, whose family lived in Yapacani. He was attending university in Cochabamba. We moved to Patujusal and did not maintain contact, mainly because we did not have a telephone.

One day Jake hailed a mototaxi in Yapacani. The driver asked if he knew a gringo called Jake. Naturally, Jake was surprised since his name was Jake and he was the only gringo living in Yapacani. The driver was Freddy – from Calama in Cochabamba. Remember? We met a few times and we learned that he wanted to learn more English, that he wanted to attend Cambridge in England. Freddy moved to Santa Cruz and after some time we lost contact.

Freddy called when our email was compromised and someone sent an email saying that we were robbed in Nigeria. He was very concerned and wanted to help us. We were touched.

Last January our land lady in Yapacani called me because there was a young man who wanted to talk to me. It was Freddy. He had returned from England and was married the month before. He was planning to work at a small Baptist church plant in Barrio Florida. I was heading to Cochabamba for Quechua classes so we arranged to meet ‘later’. But with our schedules, nothing materialized.

Meanwhile, Freddy worked at the church in Barrio Florida, the barrio where many of the families from Patujusal and La Pista have purchased lots and are building houses. The church has had a positive influence on these people and some of them are now actively involved.

Freddy spent two years at Cambridge taking Integral Missions, an area in which I have been interested and in which I want to be involved. It is the vision we had for our work in Patujusal. Freddy and I only had a few minutes to discuss his plans but in that time he touched on every idea I have had for working in Yapacani. Although I have lots of ideas, I do not have the people that can implement them but Freddy has a network available.

Where this will lead we do not know. How things will be implemented we do not know. But we know that there is a reason that Freddy and ourselves keep connecting. We know God has a plan and we are eager to be part of it.

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

Freddy, our pastor friend at the small Baptist church in Yapacani, asked Jake to assist him at Cecilia’s baptism. He was honoured – and I was jealous.

We do not take any credit for Cecilia’s faith. Maybe we prepared the soil; maybe we planted the seed. We hope that by living side by side with these people we have created an atmosphere of love and trust. There are so many facets to this story that it would make a book – and maybe someday it will.

Saturday evening we attended a wedding. Our little friend Samuel, Erselia and Filipe’s son, drew up a chair between us to tell us that he would be baptised the next day. We celebrated with tears and hugs. He was very glad that Jake would be there and wanted my assurance that I would take pictures and that he would get a picture of him with us. His enthusiasm was contagious. Imagine our surprise when Carmen Rose, Mario and Cecilia’s daughter, came to tell us that she would also be baptised the next day – along with her mom and dad. Nine people would be baptised the next day and four of them were from Patujusal.

Sunday morning the whole congregation headed down to the river in two half ton trucks and one large grain truck. The day was very warm but a breeze was blowing so it was comfortable.
Coming from the background of infant baptism, this celebration of adult baptism could have been uncomfortable but we were very at ease. First, the nine people who were to be baptised changed into white robes. Then Jake was asked to say a few words about the meaning of baptism. Each person was led into the water while the congregation sang “I have decided to follow Jesus”. The confessions were made, the person was immersed, and then the congregation sang “The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back, no turning back.” Everything was very moving. The special glances sent my way while the confessions were said made my heart sing.

God answers prayers in his own way and in his own time. Could we have ever asked for something as profound as this as an answer to prayer?

Cecilia - a true sister

Cecilia became part of life over five years ago when we first visited this community. With her infectious laugh and huge smile she always made me feel welcome. When we returned to live here I was sad when I heard that she was moving to Yapacani with her children so that they could go to school. We lost touch.

Cecilia’s husband, Mario, was also a very happy-go-lucky man with a unique sense of humour. We got along with him well. Both Mario and Cecilia liked to party and drink. We heard rumors that this was part of their new life in Yapacani.

Although things between us never soured, they never grew. We became a little distrustful of Mario when we heard some of the things that he had said that we had promised. We were friendly to each other, but certainly not close.

Then came the accident. Mario included Jake in everything. There was a feeling that he needed Jake to be there although we did not understand. On Sunday afternoon we found out why.
Jake took some of the family members to the river to wash the belongings. Cecilia was a passenger in the truck. She talked to him at length about the children and asked his advice on what should happen.

Then she shared that she was going to church in Yapacani. The pastor is a friend of ours that we met our first months in Cochabamba. Mario took him to visit us but we were not home. Things were starting to sound a little weird. Mario taking a pastor out to see us? Mario going to church? And then she asked if we would please come to church on June 13. She was being baptised and she and Mario are getting married in September.

Later, when Cecilia and I were talking and I expressed that I was afraid to talk Quechua, she gently looks at me and says, “But with God you don’t have to be afraid.” What a gem. She also told me that it was only with God that they were getting through this difficult time.

I sat with some of the family later in the evening and some were drinking beer. Someone gave Erselia a can. She took one sip and gave it to me. I took a sip and gave it back. Then she gave it to Mario. He took one sip and put it down. That one action showed me how much he had changed. Then when some of the traditional things started, Mario walked out. I realized that all day he was in the background, doing only what needed to be done but not participating in those things that did not agree with his new life. What a witness – and what a great blessing! I am positive that now we will become closer and that Mario will stand beside Jake as we work with this community.