June 21 in Oruro

 

Abajo esta en español

Bolivia is now amid its’ third wave of Covid cases. Hospitals are struggling again and there is a lack of oxygen especially here in Oruro and Cochabamba. The vaccine program has started and people in their forties can now be vaccinated but I think the uptake has been varied across the country. It feels like January and last August again, with every couple of days a new friend or relative of a friend informing me about a new Covid diagnosis and requests for prayer. In Oruro, this has led to new restrictions with a curfew and being unable to leave our houses on Sunday and holidays. 

This has meant that my work has changed, with Onésimo (the work with the prisoners) the prison has now been closed for over a month. Therefore, we are writing devotionals (in the office and at home) and delivering them once a week. While with Angel Tree (work with the children of the prisoners) we have still been visiting the children occasionally to support them with their schoolwork, devotionals and with food packages. However, with this project as well we have been limiting the amount of work we do face to face. This week I also have started working with some of the adolescents who have committed crimes and learning more about the restorative justice course they will undertake. I am praying that things will open up again in the next month or so.

The restrictions have also meant that my church has gone completely online. I have found this difficult and really miss getting to know people in person.

I also changed my holidays this week as I had been hoping to go to Cochabamba and spend some time with really close friends. We decided this wasn’t the wisest moment and I am hoping I can go in July. However, it was a disappointment. I am very grateful therefore that I was able to go to La Paz for one night a couple of weekends ago. Where I saw some beautiful friends and I was able to go to my friend’s niece birthday party and celebrate her. This was a real blessing for me and a highlight of this year. 

The isolation has been tough in moments, but I am continually trying to dig into my relationship with God and rest in him. I feel God has so much still to teach me in this situation especially about retaining my joy in him throughout every day. The long list of prayer requests has also really helped me keep talking to God during whatever I happen to be doing. 

Prayer Points

Please pray for

• The Covid situation here 

• The prisoners especially as they deal with being even more isolated 

• That I continue to trust in God and seize the opportunities I have here

• My health, my stomach hasn’t been great recently 

Thanks for taking the time to read this, with love and blessings

Andrew

Ahora Bolivia está en su tercera ola de Covid. Los hospitales están con dificultades y otra vez no hay suficiente oxígeno especialmente aquí en Oruro y en Cochabamba. El programa de vacunación ha empezado y la gente que tiene 40 años o más pueden recibir la vacuna, pero pienso que la aceptación ha sido variada en todo el país. Se siente como enero y el último agosto de nuevo, con nuevas peticiones de oración y nuevas noticias sobre muchos casos cada semana. En Oruro, esto ha llevado a nuevas restricciones, por ejemplo, ahora no podemos salir durante el fin de semana. 

Entonces mi trabajo ha cambiado, con Onésimo (el trabajo con los privados de libertad) las cárceles han estado cerradas por más de un mes. Por eso estamos escribiendo devocionales (en la oficina y en nuestras casas) y los entregamos cada semana. Mientras con Árbol del Ángel (el trabajo con las familias de los privados, especialmente con los niños) todavía estamos visitando los niños ocasionalmente para apoyarlos con sus tareas de las escuelas, devocionales y con canastas de comida. Pero también con este proyecto también hemos estado limitado el tiempo que trabajamos cara a cara. Esta semana he empezado a trabajar con los adolescentes quienes han cometido un delito y estoy aprendiendo más sobre la justicia restaurativa. Estoy orando para que sea posible que se reduzcan las restricciones este mes.  

Porque hay restricciones mi iglesia está transmitiendo por internet todo el tiempo. Esto es difícil para mi y extraño reunirme a la gente en persona.

También cambié mis vacaciones, quería ir a Cochabamba para pasar tiempo con amigos cercanos. Sin embargo, decidimos que ahora no es un momento sabio para hacerlo. Entonces tengo esperanza para ir en Julio. Pero estoy decepcionado. Estoy muy agradecido que fui a La Paz hace algunas semanas. Donde vi algunas de mis amigos increíbles y fui a la fiesta de la sobrina de una de mis amigas para celebrarla. Era un tiempo muy bendecido para mi. 

Hay momentos que el aislamiento es difícil, pero estoy tratando de mejorar mi relación con dios y descansar en él. Siento que Dios todavía tiene mucho para enseñarme aquí, especialmente sobre tener alegre en el durante cada momento del día. La lista larga de peticiones para orar, me ayudan mucho a hablar con Dios. 

Puntos de oración 

Por favor ora por 

• La situación con Covid 

• Los privados de libertad especialmente con sus aislamientos 

• Que puedo continuar a confiar en Dios y sacar las oportunidades que tengo aquí 

• Mi salud, mi estómago está mal a veces

Gracias por leer, con amor y bendiciones 

Andrew 

New beginnings in Oruro

I am now living in an apartment near the centre of the city of Oruro, I have been here for just over a week. It is great to be here, and I am adjusting to being in a new place. Oruro is smaller than the cities I have previously lived in and I am looking forward to exploring it! The people have been kind to me and seem excited to have me here.

 

Tomorrow I will visit a small church. This church has an exciting church plant in a poorer part of town, and I am hoping I will be able to get involved there. I helped some guys from this church organise some food packs earlier in the week.

 

I have started working with Prison International Fellowship here and I am currently working on two of the three projects that I am probably going to be involved with. 

 

The first of these is Onésimo which works with the prisoners in both the men's and women's prisons. Next week we are going back into the prison to see which of the guys might be interested in taking part in group Bible studies over the next few weeks.

 

The other project I have started working with is Angel Tree which supports the children of the prisoners. At the moment the team are visiting the children each week in their homes to support them in various ways. If schools return to “in person” teaching in the coming months the children will be able to return to the centre. This will mean we can work more closely with them. 

 

On Friday the 19th of March it was Father’s Day here in Bolivia, so we went into the prison to do some activities with the fathers of the Angel Tree children. This was a positive experience with most of the dads taking part, being responsive and keen to talk.

 

This was the first time I had ever been inside a prison. It was a very emotional experience, and I am still processing all the things I smelt, saw and heard. San Pedro prison is not very big but there are five sections and approximately nine hundred men are living there. The prison was slightly calmer than I expected, although there was a constant stream of guys asking for money or things. There were so many things to see shops, workshops, guys playing and locked off sections. There were men and clothes (lots of washing drying) everywhere. We also went to the football pitch where an event was taking place for Father’s Day. There were hundreds of guys there which I found intimidating but we went back later, and they were having a dance competition, and this was quite amusing. 

 

Overall, it was an incredible experience and feel very blessed and privileged that I will be able to work with these men. It was great to be able to start chatting with them. However, there are also a lot of shocking things to think about such as corruption, illegal possessions and punishment cells.

 

In the coming weeks, I may also get involved in restorative justice work with young offenders. I have also started helping with the projects’ social media and researching different Bible study methods. This week I will also probably start working on setting up a database of all the Angel Tree children and searching for victim impact interviews.

 

Thank you so much for being interested in what I am up to and for praying for me. If you ever want to know more, please just ask.

 

Today I was reading about Joseph again when he was reunited with his brothers. I was thinking about how God puts us in unexpected situations but when we are in them, he simply wants us to serve him and keep on loving him and others. It is such a relief that God sees the big picture and is in control. This is so reassuring especially when we fail and need forgiveness. I have realised recently that I have let some close friends(who I really love) down and I still have so much to learn in some many areas of my life. 

 

I was able to travel to La Paz on the way to Oruro. It was such a blessing to spend time with close friends. I am so grateful for the way they care for me and make time for me.  

 

Please pray for:

• The guys in the prison that they would be interested and want to take part in the Bible studies.

• That schools will be able to reopen, and the Angel Tree children will be able to return to the centre.

• Political peace.

• Settling into a church and making close friends here.

 

 

Here is a link to the FB page if you are interested in following what is happening here:

 

https://www.facebook.com/confraternidadcarcelariaoruro.bolivia\

The end of 2020

 

Christmas here was interesting, weird and hard but with some great fun moments. In Bolivia, Christmas Eve is a bigger deal than Christmas day with the big meal on Christmas Eve (often at midnight). Thankfully here at the children’s home, we ate around 8pm. All of the children were incredibly excited, escalated by a group from a university and a man dressed as Santa bringing gifts. After dinner, there was a lot of fireworks reaching a peak at midnight (I fell asleep for an hour or so as I am now well entrenched in a 10pm-6am, more or less, sleeping routine). It was lovely to be with all children and be part of their joy.

On Christmas Day and Boxing day, I had the opportunity to spend time relaxing and eating with other members of Latin Link. This was really nice especially for a wee bit of the feeling of a british Christmas though swimming outside in the heat on Boxing day was extremely strange. 

It was also important to be able to call my parents, sister and Gran, especially as my Gran was by herself. My sister tested positive for COVID last week (she works in a nursery), resulting in my family being in quarantine over Christmas. It was lovely to speak to them but also reminded me how much I miss them, especially just the normality of passing time with people rather than the strangeness of video calls. 

During the Christmas period, I have been less busy here due to the summer holidays and the different schedule. Therefore I found myself passing more time by myself. In some ways, this has been great and relaxing. I also feel that my relationship with God is improving and my prayer life is more active. I am really enjoying reading ‘How to pray’ by Pete Greig and would recommend it for helping think through how you spend time with God and involve him in your life. 

However, I am looking forward to next week and throwing myself into things here and working more one on one with the young people again. I have also started thinking a little about what I might do next year and the year after and I am finding this exciting but also a little overwhelming. Overall I am enjoying my work here and my relationship with God but unquestionably I am missing talking and being with close friends. 

Cases of Covid are rising again in Bolivia and we are in a second wave, please pray for wisdom for the Government. From what I am seeing many people here seem less fearful than in June and July and it seems unlikely that a full lockdown will be imposed or that it would be obeyed to the same extent. 

I hope every one of you has a year full of God, that you feel his presence in your life and you become more like the person he wants you to be 

Philippians 1:6

‘being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’

November 2020 - Life in Santa Cruz

I have been living in Santa Cruz and working in the children’s home for over a month now. I am gradually settling into this new way of living and love the work that I am doing. I am also slowly adjusting to the drastic increase in temperature and new levels of sweating!

My main responsibilities continue to be working with the children and helping them with their homework. This has mainly been with their Mathematics and English work but also occasionally with other subjects especially with the younger children (though obviously, this is more of a challenge). I am loving the challenge of explaining things well in Spanish and of having to relearn some concepts of mathematics. This has been especially difficult with some of the older teenagers whose level of mathematics I  have not been using for a long time. Working one on one with the children, and in small groups, has been wonderful in terms of developing relationships and getting to know them. 

It is also good each day to play games and spend time with different children during their breaks from lessons or after school. This has been a real privilege and pleasure. Last week I also led my first devotional in Spanish, and it went better than I expected. Hopefully, I will have more opportunities to do this in the coming weeks.

I am also taking time every day to help look after three horses. This has been a very unexpected undertaking but one I am enjoying. It is another area where I am learning so much. Last week one of the horses was injured, sadly, while jumping a fence so this week I have been spending time helping him recover. Another of the horses still has a lot of training to undergo and at times her behaviour is difficult to manage, last week she injured me with a gate. They are beautiful animals and it was a dream of my childhood to work with horses -  I never expected to have the time or opportunity to fulfil that dream! 

I feel really blessed by God to be here and I am so thankful for all your support and prayers over this year. I am enjoying these new opportunities to grow and learn. Occasionally I am finding it difficult being in a new place with occasional feelings of isolation and loneliness. However, I think as I settle, I will have more opportunities to get to know different people and get involved in a church.

I am also aware that I need to be more disciplined in my personal times with God. This is something I am really going to be working on and reminding myself how important those times were in the life of Jesus. 

I feel that the situation in Bolivia is becoming tenser after some decisions made by the government this week. In response to this, there are new blockades in the streets of Santa Cruz, however when walking around it still feels fairly calm. 

Please pray for:

• Me as I go back to the church in person 
• Developing friendships 
• Building positive relationships with the children here
• The finances of the children’s home 
• Bolivia in general as the new president takes over 

Please get in touch if there is anything you’d like to know or just to make contact. I’d also be delighted to pray for you. 

Love and Blessings,

Andrew 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

"Always be joyful. Never stop praying."

Moving to Santa Cruz Aug 2020

Things have started to change here in Bolivia, with announcements this week stating that restrictions will be lessened slightly in September. Further, it appears as though the number of cases is decreasing and the number of individuals sick and dying is significantly reduced. However, the decision to change the restrictions are being driven from an economic rather than a health perspective. 

 

It also now feels like everyone in Bolivia has had a personal experience of the virus. I have several friends who have been sick or have family members who are still very vulnerable. Here in Bolivia, there has also been a lot of political tension mainly around the upcoming elections with numerous protests and blockades. 

 

Over the last few months, I have struggled from time to time with all of the changes caused by Covid-19. I have really missed seeing my friends in person and being able to hug them. It has also been hard seeing things in Scotland as more activities of normal life have become possible. In particular, I would really love to be able to go to the beach with a couple of people and swim in the sea. However, throughout this time though I have felt a deepening trust in Jesus and have profound confidence in his presence in my life. 

 

I have also spent a lot more time volunteering with the foodbank over the last couple of weeks. This has been an incredible experience and a real blessing. It has been great being able to serve and use my Spanish practically, as I spoke with stallholders in the markets. I am extremely grateful to my friend who brought me into this wonderful team of volunteers. Yesterday it was really hard to say goodbye as I had been starting to form close friendships and have deep conversations about life and faith. 

I had to say goodbye as I am moving to Santa Cruz on Friday, where I will be starting to work in a children’s home and daycare centre. After spending 10 days with Craig and Amanda Cunningham as a form of quarantine. This is an opportunity that has come about after I decided that there wasn’t enough work for me in Oruro working directly with and alongside Bolivians. I am feeling apprehensive about this move but trusting that God will use me here. 

Here is a link to a video about the children’s home, to give you an idea of the place: https://youtu.be/6lz-u2spgH4

Thank you for supporting me and being interested in what I am doing. Please pray for these things:

 

• Me as I move to Santa Cruz 
• The children’s home and daycare centre where I will be working
• Bolivia in general

• Especially the hospitals as they continue to try to cope 
• For those suffering because of the virus and poverty 
• Also, for the political situation amidst upcoming elections. 
• For the continuing work of the projects in Oruro 

 

Love and blessings,

Andrew 

Bolivia during quarantine

I have been struggling to write this for the last couple of weeks as I feel as if not much has changed since my last prayer letter. However, I am realising it is important to share the reality of how I am feeling and what I am experiencing during this period. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, for your prayers, support and love.

From last Monday Bolivia has moved to a flexible quarantine nationwide where each department can decide if the rules can be lessened in certain areas. Cochabamba, where I am currently living, has decided to extend the strict quarantine until at least the end of May. This decision has been made as there is concern that the hospitals are on the verge of being overwhelmed and the number of cases is still increasing. The amount of testing being undertaken is also very limited and therefore it is very hard to know the true scale of the virus here in Bolivia.

Many Bolivians are struggling with the prolonged, strict quarantine and there have been more cases of people disobeying the rules. In Cochabamba, over the last few days, there has been a blockade of one of the main roads out of the city as people protest the current regulations. Sadly, I have also heard that there have been some displays of anger against health workers in some places as people fear getting infected. Please pray for Bolivia and the Bolivian people as they deal with the virus and also more and more with the more pressing concerns of having enough money and feeding their families.

Personally, I am doing fine, and I am very well but I have definitely had difficult days and found my emotions have been fluctuating much more than I am used to or expected. I have experienced doubts about why I am here and what is God’s purpose for me at this moment. It is especially difficult when I receive emails from the British Embassy, informing about the limited flights out of Bolivia. Nevertheless, I still feel that Bolivia is my home and God is calling me here for a reason. The earliest I might be able to move to Oruro is around the 7^th of June, but this might change again.

I am still taking Spanish classes with the school here in Cochabamba via Skype and I am slowly improving. This week I had the opportunity to help out at the foodbank here in Cochabamba, which a close friend helps run. It was incredible to see how the organisation has expanded to meet the current need in the city. I helped deliver 70 food packages to a school in the community for further distribution to people who really need them. After this, we took individual packages to local families who had asked for help, or the foodbank had been informed were struggling. It was incredible to get out of the house for the first time properly, see the city and interact with people. However, it was sad to see how much people are suffering and how needed the foodbank is right now. I am grateful to my friend for inviting me along and it was a privilege to work alongside them. I am very grateful that God has put the foodbank in place for just such a time as this.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.

Jeremiah 29:4-5

Over the last few days, I have been thinking about the period of exile of the Israelites, how that was a period of waiting and frustration, but God told the people to settle in and that he would keep his promises and be with them. I feel like this time of quarantine could also just be a period of waiting but in fact, God wants me to open my eyes to the opportunities he is giving me and to the things he has for me to learn and grow in right now.

Thank you again, I am praying for you all, thank you to those who have been in touch. There have been definitely been times when I have felt a little isolated and lonely. Hope you have a blessed week.