Month 10 Overview

Hello all, 

 

As we near the end of the penultimate month of my race, I am sitting in our “home base house” in La Paz and reflecting on the month. 

 

This month has been really something. 

I’m pretty confident that it has been my favorite month of the whole race. (So far at least. I trust that God has big things in store for month 11) 

 

It’s been quite a full month, so I sit here with the daunting task of giving you a concise summary.

 

Here goes. 

 

As you know we began our month with a visit to Casa De Esperanza orphanage (house of hope) in Caranavi. In the 4+ days that we were there we got to know the kids, helped in the kitchen, painted and chiseled some signs, and hiked through the Amazon Jungle with machetes and PVC pipe to attempt to fix the water supply to the orphanage (interesting day). It was also during this time that we went on our hunt for the girls from the documentary (story here if you haven’t read it). 

 

After Caranavi, we had a couple days back in La Paz to rest, reset, and do some laundry. 

 

We left early on a Saturday morning for the memorial service commemorating the victims of the bus accident outside of Charazani. There is so much more I would like to say about this, but I feel it is not my story to tell. I will say this:

that it was completely heart wrenching.

Bright, white clouds rested in the mountains, enshrouding everything around us in a thick fog.  It set the space apart- sanctified it in a way. I felt that the Lord had chosen those clouds specifically- wrapping us all in bright soft light, protecting us from the view below until the time was right. 

 

After the service and some words from the grieving parents, the clouds began to clear, and we hiked down to the wreckage to leave flowers and pray. 

 

I want to tell you more 

about the parents, 

about the service, 

about the people who passed away.

But as I said, 

it’s not my story to tell. 

And besides, 

I don’t really have the words for it anyways.

 

Emotion needs no translation.  

 

Please keep these families in your prayers. 

After the service we hiked down to Charazani, where we spent one night before heading on to Apolo. (We were so wiped out that we were all in bed by 7:25 and easily slept until 7:30 the next morning.) 

 

In Apolo, we stayed in a house on the property of Iglesia Evengelica Luterana (Evangelical Lutheran Church). Interestingly enough, our host from last month worked with the same pastor in Apolo in his younger years. During our week there we visited a school to pass out Bibles, and  did work around the church. The main thing they wanted done at the church was.. can you guess?

 

Painting! 

We painted a mural in one of the classrooms of the church’s preschool, and we put fresh paint on the front of the church. The classroom mural is actually the second mural of the month. The first we painted in the Medfund office in La Paz the week before we left for our excursions to the more remote places of Bolivia. 

 

Here are pictures of both: 

Featuring Patrick putting on the finishing touches. The verse was already there. It was one of the last things some of the Medfund volunteers did before they passed away in the accident. The mountain depicted is a famous mountain outside of La Paz. 

The teachers wanted us to rework this whole room so we painted the mural, the door, the numbers, and we added icons to the alphabet put up by another team of racers back in 2014. The verse is Exodus 3:12- “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you.” 

Here is a before and after picture as well: 

 

During our time in Apolo we also took an overnight trip to a tiny village called San Andres. We crammed 8 people into a six passenger taxi and drove an hour down a bumpy dirt road. When we arrived they gave us freshly pressed sugarcane juice and took us to see the presses they use for it. We even got to try our hand at it ourselves, with the help/ hindrance of the local kids. After a community meal we set in to what would turn out to be 5 and a half hour service, ending at 1:30 in the morning. The service was for the church’s 47th anniversary if I recall correctly, and people had traveled from miles away to be there. Once everyone finished eating cake and cleared out, we set up camp on the church’s concrete floor and had a solid 5 hours before we had to be up the next morning.   

 

As you might imagine, this came quicker than we would have liked, and before we knew it we were up for egg sandwiches and atrociously sweet coffee which we suspected may have been brewed with sugar cane juice instead of water. After the morning service and Sunday school we ate lunch, said bye, and piled back into the same tiny taxi to head back to Apolo, grab our stuff, and catch our bus. 

 

Our bus left at 4 and we drove through the night to arrive in La Paz at about 4:30 the next morning. Grateful to have access to real beds for the first time in 48 hours, we crashed and slept till noon. 

 

So that’s pretty much the run-down. We’ve been resting and processing and organizing, and tonight (in a handful of hours actually) we are taking a night bus to Uyuni to see the salt flats and another night bus out (and back to La Paz) tomorrow night. We are officially done with month 10 ministry, which is completely bizarre and hard to believe. 

On the 19th we will head to mini-debrief in Kuzco, Peru, where most of the squad will also be taking a trip to see Machu Picchu. 

 

Please be in prayer for safe travels as always, as well as our final month on the race. As you can see from the teams bar on the left, I am part of the group who has chosen to do ATL for month 11. Most likely we will be splitting into smaller groups as we listen for the direction the Lord has for each of us this month. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as we choose smaller teams and direction. Like I said, I am confident that the Lord has amazing things in store for us. 

 

See you soon. 

 

Much Love, 

Hattie. 

 

P.s. one more prayer request before I go- you may or may not know that my sister and her husband are expecting. My little nephew is due any day now! Please be in prayer for both mother and baby, that everything goes quickly and smoothly and that both are in full health. I can’t wait to meet this little guy when I get home in November. 

 

Okay that’s all.

Thanks!!