Friends,
I´ve got good news and bad news this month; the bad news first:
Our airplane was robbed! We have a Cessna 182 turbocharged airplane that we have been working on permissions for as our workhorse. A few days ago, we were contacted by someone at the small municipal airport where the airplane was parked, stating that the propeller was missing from our plane. Jeff rushed down to the airport and discovered that at least the following were missing: Variable-pitch propeller, brakes, pitot tube and some antennas. He´s talked to the airport police and filed a report. Fliers were handed out at the airport and local bus station with a reward offered. So far to no avail. The sad part is that donations have come in enough to pay the import fees (around $16,000), which we paid and filed paperwork for importation. This plane and the Cessna 172 are the two planes that should have unlimited permission to fly in Bolivia soon. The 172 is a small plane and more suited for short flights within the jungle. This plane was going to work here, and eventually in La Paz, where only a turbocharged plane can go. (We should be able to import planes for free when the laws are enacted in our favor to do so, but for now we have to pay.)
There is some good news, however. In the process of talking with people at the airport about the incident and looking for a safe place to put the airplane, Jeff met two people who have hangars and are willing to let us keep our planes there. Hangar space is expensive, and we are not rich, but the owners for now are letting us stay for free. What a blessing! Our planes are much more secure now.
The airport closes at sundown, and everyone goes home including the police. It´s possible that someone who owns a hangar at the airport stayed late and stole the parts off the plane when everyone went home. I pray that God will forgive those who stole the parts, and that they may be saved someday. As for us, God can provide another propeller since He owns everything.
On to more good news:
Min and I received our 30 day visas! We traveled to the border between Bolivia and Argentina. The city on the Bolivian side was called Yacuiba. Our goal was to cross the border into Argentina where there was a Bolivian Consulate that would process our paperwork. We hopped a bus from Santa Cruz at 9:30pm and arrived at 4:30am in Yacuiba and made it to the border ok. It was a little scary because Min was denied entry into Argentina because she was Filipino. Three of us did our paperwork while she had to wait at the border. We stayed the night, and the next morning applied for a visa for her at the Argentenian consulate on the Bolivian side of the border. They finally decided to grant her a 3 day visa for $50! That was a high price, but we paid it and that afternoon she received her 30 day Bolivian visa as well. We traveled home safely, just in time to play instruments for a wedding. We have been applying for our 1-year residency since we returned to Santa Cruz. There is a list of 20 papers that we need in our application. Most of them have a cost attached, so I´m watching our money disappear more rapidly than I´d like. It´s ok though; we need this to be done in order to work here in Bolivia. Our only other option is to apply for a working visa each month at $105 per person per month. Instead we´re going to pay about $600 per person for the year (paperwork included).
While we were in Yacuiba, we met some Seventh-day Adventists who run a vegetarian restaurant. We ate there and talked with them and while we were there a little boy came in with some hamsters in a cardboard box. We´ve wanted to get a pet, but are worried about having to travel. We decided to buy two hamsters for his asking price of 40 bs ($6). After bringing them home, we found that another missionary really liked hamsters. In fact, they seemed to bring him so much happiness just holding them, that we decided to give them to him. He was VERY happy. And so we were petless. A few days later we went with this missionary to town to pick out a cage, and saw some dogs and cats. Min seemed interested in getting a dog, maybe even one like the Dashund she had when she was a kid. The next week we stopped at the same pet sellers on the way home and guess what? There appeared to be a pure-bred Dashund puppy for sale! We had enough money (the man wanted $65 but we talked him down to $50) and we bought her. Min was _really_ happy. $50 is a lot of money as a missionary, but for comparison, these dogs sell for $200-$500 in the U.S. With that in mind, it seems that God took something that would normally be outside our means and brought it down to our level! We´re happy with her and named her ¨Raisin¨ (she´s mostly black). So far I´ve learned more patience, waking up at 2am to let her pee, cleaning up after her during potty training, teaching her not to chew on everyone. I think I´m being prepared to be a father someday, should the Lord tarry. We´ve been blessed so far, as she was potty-trained in one week, although these dogs are notoriously hard to potty-train. I´ll put up some pictures of her soon.
A new missionary has arrived here. His name is Jon and this is his first mission trip. He´s been a blessing so far, and he´ll be here 5 months. He´s from Michigan and his girlfriend worked at one of our projects here in Bolivia. He´s just starting to learn Spanish, and we took him to town with us to buy groceries and show him around. He´s got quite a testimony, having rebelled and gotten into drugs, and then delivered. He is so serious about getting away from his old environment and temptations and getting closer to God that he came all the way out here to volunteer in Bolivia. So far he hasn´t been turned-off by the 3rd-world difficulties, the different culture, or the prospect of hard work. Please pray that his motivation continues and that God answers his prayer for a closer walk with Him in a mighty way.
This last weekend a group of us went for a weekend retreat to the hills of Palermo. Santa Cruz is very flat, but as you travel to the southwest, the terrain gets more and more mountainous. We went on the road to Samaipata, which is somewhat of a tourist destination. My friend Daniel suggested we hitch a ride on a truck coming from the market in Santa Cruz. There are buses and bush taxis that go there, but he insisted that trucks are much more comfortable. It turned out he was right - we tied our hammocks up in the back and had a relaxed three-hour ride. Before we reached Samaipata, we got off the vegetable truck we were riding in and walked up a road that went a mile off into the hills. There was a small home and church that we stopped at and spent the weekend. The home belonged to a couple of missionaries, Matteo and his wife Paola. They run a lifestyle center out of their home and local Seventh-day Adventists come to the small church next-door. Min and I stayed in a bedroom behind the church and the others stayed in the house. It was a reverent and awe-inspiring weekend. Worshipping in the small church with windows all around displaying the high hills around us was a great experience. After lunch we went hiking up into the hills for a few hours. We returned on Sunday after visiting a churchmember who had a sugar cane farm. She sent us home with two bottles of fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice. We caught a ride home on the back of a truck carrying cement to Santa Cruz. I highly recommend taking a trip up into the mountains if you live in the lowlands or city. The tall mountains made me feel small, and more in the presence of God. Oh, and stars were so much brighter out there!
Please pray for us, as we have more needs now (see ¨How to Help¨ above for details), for our missionaries, including Jon, and that God would open the doors soon for us to resume mission-flying here or show us if he has a different plan, and finally that the building projects go forward here with good speed.
God Bless,
Scott Sterling
Scott Sterling
