Bringing Joy in the clouds of La Paz!

This is outreach! Last Wednesday we were supposed to leave for Bolivia but plans were changing every minute, one minute we were leaving the same evening, then we were leave on Thursday evening, a minute later we discovered it was not possible since the whole country was on national holiday, so finally it was decided that we would leave that same evening. We had just one hour to pack our stuff,  and catch our bus to Bolivia. And you know what, we made it!

New Adventure on the Bus!

Luckily the bus strip to La Paz was less of a rollercoaster ride than the bus trip from Lima to Cusco. But it was still a different adventure we found ourselves on.  Halfway through the trip we woke up, because there was a laptop stolen from a German turist. As a team we were already warned for situations like this, but seeing it so close, it makes you extra aware of the poverty and criminality. Luckily the guy found  the passenger who stole his laptop, but for us it was an eye opener about the third world country we were about to enter to.

Living in the Clouds!

 

View of La Paz

After the long ride we arrived safely to Adulm Mission in El Alto, which is the upper city of La Paz. We are at the highest capital of the world, the area where we are at is about 4000 m above sea level. We are really sitting on the clouds trying to catch our breath. The altitude creates interesting affects like loss of breath, headaches, and unwelcomed farts. We are living in one of the houses of the mission which is really located in the poor area of La Paz.

Mission Adulm

The mission Adulm was founded by Fineke Jansen who is a Dutch missionary who moved her life to Bolivia 25 years ago. The mission is divided into three houses for boys, girls and couples between the age of 13 until 35 who previously lived on the streets and had problems with drug and alcohol addictions. The houses are a refuge were they can have therapy and go through a program which helps them enter back into society.

Bringing Joy in the Houses!

Couples House, baking bread

Last week we were separated into the houses and supported the staff were it was needed as well as just hung out with the people in the houses. We had lunch with them, joined them for creative therapy and sports as well as hung out with them. We can see that a relationship is starting to form between our team and them which is awesome. We can see that the teens and young adults at the houses have had a really hard life and we feel that we can bring some joy into the houses in the time we will be here.

Mail personally delivered by Jonathan!

Our team in La Paz with Jonathan

This last week was a week we were really looking forward to because Jonathan our school leader came all the way from Holland to La Paz for a pastoral visit. We had an awesome time with him and all the mail he brought from home. You should have seen all the happy faces it was like Christmas. Since we are now half way through the outreach we are starting to miss home more and his visit brought a bit of home to La Paz. During the week we had encouraging talks with Jonathan and he inspired us to have big faith for the second half of our outreach. We were really encouraged as a team by his visit.   

Next Week!

This week we organized some special events for the different houses, such as dance lessons, couples gala evening, high tea with the girls and a hamburger party for the guys. We are really excited for these programs. Please pray this coming week that it goes well and that these programs will also have a deeper affect on the youth and young adults in the houses. Please also pray for our team as some people are sick and others are emotionally tired.