Laughing through Death Week

This week, our cute little HOPE team commune, where we have such jolly times together, transformed into the Apartment of Death. Or, to put it a little less dramatically, the Apartment of Diarrhea and Vomiting and Accidentally Swallowing E Coli. Needless to say, God is teaching us great things here in La Paz!

During death week in the apartment... thought some of you may enjoy this lovely picture of myself.

...But really, we are learning lots. The enormity of cultural differences, for one. If you want a hilarious and descriptive account of our past week of failures and discoveries, check out Jordyn's new blog post. It's worth the read.

Yesterday, I started my first official day on the "job", working in the daycare at Casa de Paso. Let me first say that I am in love. The minute I walk in the door, tons of kids--despite the protests of the desperate women trying to sit them down and feed them lunch--come running to surround me, shouting "¡Me llamo David!", "¿Que te hablas?", etc. I don't think I need to describe to you how my heart completely melted, and continued to melt as the short four hours passed by. The kids are from 1-5 years in age, and about 35 total; there are four women who work in the nursery, and one volunteer from Scotland--who happens to be an 18-year-old girl--and they're all extremely kind-hearted.

Since I arrived at the start of almuerzo, I spoon-fed the littlest ones and encouraged the older ones to eat more ("¡Unita más, por favor!"). After lunch, it's time to settle them all down for siesta, which became my new favorite interaction with the kids... you basically hold them down and gently order them to "Cálmate"o "Cierran tus ojos"until they fall asleep. It was hilarious to watch the littlest ones thrash around under a firm hand on their face, laughing and occasionally singing, until they crashed.

Since we're all slowly but surely recovering from the poop epidemic that imploded in the household (unnecessary pun?), this week has been more low-key than usual, much to our grateful souls and stomachs. My father is laughing his way (often forced laughter) through the many burdens of intense work, language barriers and sickness. Most of the time we find ourselves laughing at my mother, who dedicates her whole heart to learning Spanish and, in the process, makes friends with literally everyone she meets on the street. Lin is working hard, translating hard, sleeping hard, praying hard and laughing hard, as usual. Gwen just has to laugh through the extreme differences in Bolivian health care and that of the States, many of which have compelled her to begin training nurses as soon and as thoroughly as possible. Ivelisse is finding her God-given place in the FAI projects, and is also leading multiple Bible studies with young women, which are always full of conviction, passion and, yes, laughter. Jordyn is being piled upon with schoolwork (four AP classes!), daydreaming about Chick-Fil-A often (a tender topic for the occasionally homesick team), in and out of our probably miserable bathroom, and somehow managing to laugh her way through it all.

As for me, to be honest, I'm having to learn how to laugh without feeling guilty about doing so, knowing that there are so many kids on the streets right now who will never have the joy I get to have. My easily passionate nature can be extreme sometimes, so I'm praying for and learning discernment of how to balance (1) the emotional intensity of my work with the kids and (2) having the joy in life that my God created me to have. It's truly amazing to study out Jesus' walk on earth, being fully confident that every action and word on his part was for our benefit, was to teach us something, was to scream out to the world how much he loves us. I know that as long as I fix my eyes on the Author and Perfecter of my faith, I will shine like the light God intends me to be, especially in this dark place. And we will all laugh with Him one day in heaven.

Some terribly cute kids in the nursery.

So to sum it all up: we're all laughing through life in La Paz! Once again, go read Jordyn's blog post for some laughs of your own, and while you're at it, go check out the new team blog!
Every member of the team updates it here and there, so it's a nice representation of the team's journey, to say the least! If you've been reading my blog, you'll find some familiar posts on there.

Once again, thanks for reading, please say a quick prayer for our team and the people of La Paz, and keep me updated on your life! I love you and whole-heartedly miss you all in America! Go eat some Chick-Fil-A for me!