Have You Ever?

Have you ever seen someone pour beer on their car? Sprinkle beer around their house? Shoot innocent strangers with a water gun from their car? Burn fake money and incense in charcoal on their sidewalk? Come to Cochabamba today and you can!

Today is a holiday known in Bolivia as Martes de Challa. On the Tuesday following Carnaval (Mardi Gras) weekend, each family offers “sacrifice” to the PachaMama (the god of mother earth). Franco estimates that around 80% of families participate, and judging by the smoke in the air, he must be right. A charcoal fire is lit, and incense is burned. Street vendors also sell miniature items such as money, houses, cars, etc. that can be burned in the fire. The idea is that by burning these items, the PachaMama will bless you by giving you the things you burned. Sprinkling beer on your possessions is a way of blessing the items you already have. It is a dark time in Bolivia, and is a reminder of how many people around us are living without Jesus, in fear and superstition. I don’t have any pictures I took myself, because I didn’t think that would go over very well, but I borrowed some from google to give you an idea.

Blessing of the bus

Miniature items to burn as sacrifice to Mother Earth - Pachamama

The burning of the items

The entire weekend is considered a holiday in Bolivia, and many celebrate by drinking heavily. It is a dangerous weekend for many. This year it is estimated that over 20 people were killed in accidents related to the celebration of Carnaval. Being out in public can be dangerous even if you are not celebrating. Today on our way to the corner store we were sprayed by a stranger passing by with a water gun. Often though, the water guns are filled with other liquids that are more harmful and or smelly.

For this reason, our church puts on a camp for young adults during this weekend every year as an alternative to celebrating in the traditional ways. This year Franco was invited to teach! The camp was located about two hours outside of the city in the mountains – and it was cold! There were about 60 people from the church in all, and it was a great weekend.

Franco taught about Ephesians 5, imitating God by walking in love, light, wisdom and purity. I was able to spend time with some of the young girls from church, and enjoyed getting to know them better. Bolivian youth camps are MUCH different than any camp I ever went to. The idea of sleep is just that – an idea. I think I was the only one who slept more than 5 hours a night… I felt old! The games are also extreme. One game included eating 20 olives in as little time as possible. Another included team work- three people worked together to eat a raw onion, bell pepper, and tomato in as little time as possible. And the worst, two volunteers from each team were required to take off their (dirty) sock, place it over a bottle of water, and drink the water through the sock. I couldn’t (and wouldn’t!) have done it, but the boys didn’t seem to mind! It was an exhausting weekend, but it was a good time to spend with the youth of our church.

Franco teaching about God's will

Can you imagine eating these raw in under two minutes???

Time for lunch!

The power went out one night, so we had a nice candle light, fire hazard dinner.

Worship Time - Franco is hiding behind the guitar

When we made it back to Cochabamba around 9:30 last night, we discovered that there was flooding on the road to our house. You can see a short video here: https://www.facebook.com/sallen507/videos/10155679284064079/

None of the public transportation was working, and the taxi’s didn’t want to risk it either. Thankfully, friends from church generously took us to their house and let us stay with them. This morning we were able to get home safely. The roads are still a mess, and in many places it is filled with debris. We are very grateful that there was no flooding in our house. Water did get into the living room, but the rug was the only casualty.

We will be visiting some of the families tomorrow from Happy Hour that live in the more affected areas to see how we can help. Please be praying for those whose lives have been disrupted by the flooding. Please pray that the Lord would give us opportunities to love and serve those around us that have been affected, and that people might come to know Jesus through these floods.