Getting to the Other Side

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

Leah and I finally accumulated and turned in all of the necessary documents to receive our two-year visas. It has been a long process, but we are thankful to have completed at least this first step of it! Now it is just a matter of waiting until the visas are granted.

Prayer Necessities:

1. Because my passport is now with the Bolivian immigration officials in La Paz, please pray that I will be able to get it back in time for my vacation to the States in late May. I have been told that it is no problem to pull the passport back out of the process, so please pray that this is so.

2. Be in continued prayer for our upcoming women's conference in July and August. We are soon to begin advertising for this, so please pray that God would prepare the women that He desires to participate and that they would obey His call.

3. Please continue to pray for the church in Ayuma. The more time we spend with them, the more problems we see. Please pray that the Lord would pour out His Spirit upon them and that they would be transformed into the church He wants for them to be.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

It seems that all of my recent blogs involve crossing rivers, but I hope you can bear with me. That's just life during rainy season in Bolivia.

Every Wednesday, most of the people in Ayuma make the 1.5-hour trek to a nearby town called Pampa Colorado to buy things at the weekly market there. You can buy vegetables, live animals, gas for cooking, and even Quechua music videos! (Believe me, you might be curious enough to watch one of their videos once, but I can guarantee you that you would never want to see it a second time! :))

Going to the market is always a fun time for Leah and me. We enjoy the walk through the mountains, and Riley always has a good time running ahead of us. Once we get there, we buy whatever we need, along with a 2.5-liter Coke and a lunch of fried chicken and noodles, which we then eat at our normal spot under a tree on the return route to Ayuma. It's often the highlight of our week because it's such a break from the routine of life here.

Well, on our last trip to Ayuma, Nelly asked us to go to the market with her, and we agreed, thinking the long walk would be a good time to go over the stories with her. Little did we know what we had gotten ourselves into!

When we arrived at Nelly's house that morning, we discovered that it would not be just the three of us. Her husband Oscar, her mother-in-law Philippa, her three-year-old son Elvis, and seven donkeys borrowed from a neighbor would be joining us on the trip. I felt like I had just been thrown in the middle of some caravan in the Middle East! :)

Once we got going, things went well for awhile. Oscar, Philippa, Elvis, and the donkeys went on ahead while we talked and rehearsed a few stories with Nelly. But we were about twenty minutes from Pampa Colorado when we arrived at the river, and that's when the trouble began.

Though it hadn't rained that morning, it had been raining heavily for the previous few days. That made the river run almost to its banks, and it was moving really fast (the picture below, though it doesn't do it justice, might give you some idea). Oscar decided we would be better off trying to cross a few hundred yards upstream, so we followed as he herded the donkeys in that direction.
But, when we got there, the donkeys refused to cross. No matter how hard Oscar beat them, they wouldn't budge an inch into the fast-moving water. Hey, those donkeys weren't stupid! Too bad we humans can't take a lesson from those "dumb" animals. :)

So we herded the donkeys back downstream to the normal crossing site, where a few others from Ayuma were getting ready to cross with their own animals. There were two older ladies, Paulina and Ines, together with their donkeys. Cornelio, a local non-believer, was there to help them. And Juan was there with his pig. We must have looked hilarious!

I stood on the riverbank and watched as Juan jumped into the water behind his pig, who was obviously none too keen on being in that river. I watched Cornelio and Oscar finally manage to push the donkeys into the river, and I looked down at the rushing water and was just about to tell Leah that I was going to head back to Ayuma when Nelly said, "Hermana (sister)! Carry Elvis across for me. I have to help my husband!"

Before I even had the chance to object, Nelly had loaded her son in a cloth bundle tied on my back and was dragging us out into the river. She held onto my left arm, while Ines held onto her other side. Leah was on the other side of Ines to make four of us in a line. But, somehow, that didn't make me feel any better.

I was trying to take slow and careful steps to be sure I had solid footing on the riverbed, especially with someone else's three-year-old on my back. But Nelly was wanting to move faster and kept pulling my left arm, making me feel even more off-balance. I finally wrenched my arm free and told her that I would get there on my own.

When I finally reached the other side, after what seemed like an eternity of baby steps through the torrent, I don't think I've ever been so happy to be on dry ground (to the left is Oscar and a few others from Ayuma, along with their donkeys, right after crossing the river). But my happiness was short-lived as Nelly pointed to the sky and informed us that we needed to hurry because more rain was coming, and the river would only get worse.

Leah and I quickly got what we needed from the market and, as Nelly and her family were staying longer, we headed back on our own. When we arrived back at the river, despite the ominous clouds threatening overhead, it looked no worse than before. We had no choice but to go forward, and it helped to know we had made it across once before.

Riley, being a strong swimmer and much less afraid of the water than she had been just a month before (see March 24 blog), jumped in and quickly made it across with no problems. But it was interesting to see how the current pushed her about 20 feet downriver before she made it.

Leah and I locked arms as we had done with the women earlier but, this time, the difference was that we went at a common pace, being careful to not push each other too quickly. And, as we walked, I didn't take my eyes off the opposite shore, breathing a huge sigh of relief when we finally set foot on it.

That second walk across the river, though it still made me somewhat nervous, didn't utterly terrify me as the first had. There were several reasons for that, and they all have significant spiritual application.

1) I didn't have a burden strapped to my back. And, as I'm trying to navigate the treacherous waters of life, I can't be weighed down by a load of guilt or sin or anything else either. Scripture tells us to:

"Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Heb. 12:1)

Just maybe, without the extra weight throwing us off-balance, we are better equipped to make it across the river.

2) I had someone to do it with me, someone who cared enough to go at a mutually beneficial pace. When I was going with people who were too fast for me, I felt like I was going to fall. When Riley did it on her own, she made it but landed a long way from the mark. But, with Leah beside me, I felt like I was better balanced and had someone to help steady me. Do you think that's why Scripture tells us this?

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" (Ecc. 4:9-10)

3) I was completely focused on the goal. The first time I walked across the river, I was looking down at the water, trying to see as well as feel for solid footing. But it didn't help, as I couldn't see anything in the muddy water. And it just made me more fearful and hesitant in my steps as I saw exactly what I was stepping into. But the second time, as I just focused on making progress toward the opposite shore, I was more calm and confident. I think that's why Scripture says this:

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb. 12:2)

4) And, last but not least, I knew it could be done because I had done it before. Though it had been hard, we had made it and had a better idea of how to do it the second time. That's why Scripture tells us to:

"But do not be afraid...; remember well what the LORD your God did..." (Deut. 7:18)

It is absolutely VITAL in the life of a believer to remember how God has brought us through previous trials. We are so easily discouraged and tempted to give up when walking against the current of the world and its ways, but we have to remember God's faithfulness in past tough times. This is the only way we will persevere.

And remember:

"He who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matt. 24:13)

I hope you will remember this the next time you are going through something difficult. And I hope I'll remember it, too.