1 Wedding, 1 Meal, and a Service

It would be rude not to address point numero uno first, so lets...

Ali, Rachel A, Alex, Em, and Suzzie before the wedding

The Wedding...

'Ah, nice, there was a wedding at the church' you say. Well, sort of... Actually, not at all. 

At the end of the Easter day service, Feidel, the keyboard player who wears a constant smile, (which makes up for the interesting Bolivian worship songs he plays) invited the team along to a wedding. The excitement that followed was uncontained, as we were told to be ready to go at 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Two came, and went, as did three... as did four... At five o'clock we were finally picked up and set off for the other side of El Alto for the wedding reception. 

The most insane wedding cake ever!!!

To say that we enjoyed it wouldn't quite be the correct description. It was... an experience. Firstly the couple had no idea who we were, and that we were coming (to be honest, I think Feidel might have even been a plus 1). Also we couldm't go in without gifts, so we stopped at a shop outside, as in literally outside the reception and bought some gifts, which were then completely shown up by the people after us bringing in 2 chairs and 2 sofas, and the people after that a brand new dresser! With somewhat awkward looks all round we embraced the newly-weds and sprinkled confetti on them. The band were very, very loud and relentless, and for food we were given party bags full of popcorn (oh just to mention, they love popcorn here, sold everywhere and is sort of a staple snack).

The bride and groom and some others with confetti on them. They had to stand there for the large majority of the reception at guests just randomly turned up.

Don´t get me wrong, it was an amazing experience, but checklist wise, 

Bolivian Wedding = DONE (no need to re-visit)

The Meal...

Bolivians are good at getting two things wrong;

1. Timings.
2. Judging how much us English need to eat.

We were invited to Maggie's (she teaches the youngest class at the church school) house on Sunday evening and were told that there might be a bit of food, but to eat before we go. In England that normally means, there'll be nibbels, so eat before to avoid eating all the nibbels and looking like a pig. So natuarally we baked cakes all afternoon, ate all the cakes and mixture and felt really quite sick. On arrival at Maggie's there appeared to be no food, result. At 9 however, we were presented with possibly the nicest meal I've had here yet. Homemade/cooked, it was a feast, and too good to leave. Needless to say, I was sporting a serious food baby afterwards... 

Before eating we did a sort of sing off battle thing (only with worship songs... so it wasn't really a competition...). They sang a worship song in Spanish, and then we would reply with one in English. It was a truly magical moment when we both broke into 'how great thou art' in our respective languages! Juan said how amazing it was that God hears worship all the same in two different langauges, Amen to that Juan. 

He also said that they felt bad singing after we had sung because we 'sing like angels'. I think England can claim all 3 points on that one then. 

The Service...

This had been looming for a while. We had to take the service, the entire service, the kids work, music and all, last Sunday. Despite a last minute Saturday night panic of 'we're not prepared enough' the service we off brilliantly. The music, the drama (which Juan told us yesterday people found very emotional and helpful) and the kids work all went really well and my translated sermon even got a round of applause halfway through, along with the usual 'amen' and 'gloria dios' shouts that a sermon usually receives.

The roof from downstairs

Thank you to everyone who prayed for it and again for you continued support. All is well, health is suprisingly, other than the standard tummy upsets, and after a shattering day on the site on Tuesday, that roof is concreted and we're ready to begin the second floor!

Please pray for a strength and courage for me and Rach as leaders, and real energy when I´d rather just retreat and have some lazy time. Also for the team to all have real initiativem in ways that we can serve, be hospitable and use our time. But we've still getting on well and enjoying ourselves, so thank God for that and pray that that catties on. Much Love, mussing you all!!

On top of the roof/the first floor. The views are amazing from here because so few houses have 2 floors and as you can see we're hard as work in this photo...

Again, hard at work. Alex even has his hard hat on! I'm all about health and safety as a leader me..

JJ