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| A carving of the Apostle Paul on a pillar of the Jesuit church in San Pedro, where we visited with Douglas this week. |
And one which my cousin, Douglas, has grasped with flying colours since his arrival here last Sunday. Because he has had to live in a house where the Problem of the Week was our water supply cutting out. Since Tuesday, the pump which supplies water to ourselves and two nearby houses has broken (we are all still waiting on a repair guy to come and look at it!). In the process, we discovered that our house's well has a leak in it. So we're now into our fifth day of resorting to alternative solutions, including washing dishes with bottled water, showering at a neighbour's home, and manually pumping from the ground for all the other stuff. Things will not return to normal until early next week at the earliest.
Having come so far to see us, Douglas is probably well within his rights to be a bit cheesed off. But he's adapted brilliantly and, if anything, I'm the frustrated one, given that such a major problem has surfaced just when we were looking forward to playing host to my 'wee' cousin. Despite it all, we've thoroughly enjoyed the past week with him. He's between two high-pressure jobs, in need of as refreshing a break as possible, and therefore, we've pulled out all the stops, taking in the big local tourist attractions (both of them!), sampling local cuisine, introducing him to our friends around town and, on Thursday, driving out into the wilder regions of the Beni to snap wildlife (Douglas being a keen photographer), including herons, capybaras and (a first for us) pink flamingoes.
As you may have worked out by this point, we've certainly had enough time on our hands. Monday was our usual day off, while Thursday was a national holiday for Corpus Christi. It's afforded us much meaningful time together. However, with Wednesday also being international Day of the Teacher (Bolivian definition: a day off for educators!), I ended up teaching a grand total of one class out of the usual five this week, so I don't really feel I've been able to share as much of my own ministry as I would have hoped. But he did get an insight into the health work of the Foundation and, being a medic himself, certainly appreciated that.
The bottom line is that it's just been a rare privilege to have someone who is as much friend as family member come to visit us and he will return to the US with our sincere appreciation for his kindness -- he is more than welcome to come back whenever he likes (though our next meeting may well be in North America during 2014, our scheduled furlough year).
Prayer
- For safe travels for Douglas, who begins his four-flight trek back to Virginia on Tuesday morning, and is due to start in his new work on Thursday.
- Likewise for Amanda, who has a check-up with the surgeon on Wednesday in Santa Cruz.
- For a solution to our water problems.
Praise
- For sufficient grace to cope with our water shortages -- we're surviving!
- For a great week with Douglas.
¡Que Dios les bendiga!
Craig & Amanda
You know, that really puts things into perspective.
ReplyDeleteIt's not as though I've never lived without water—but doing on, for instance, a camping trip is completely different than to do it in everyday life.
Here's hoping thing return to normal soon!
Give D our best!