WARNING: This will be a LONG post. :-D
You just never know what you will find on the road in Bolivia.....
Always up for an adventure, Jason and I joined our team (Mercado family, Massey family, and Joe and Julie Kidd) for a trip to visit several towns to the East of where we live. Although it was hot hot hot and we didn’t have air conditioning, the trip went well. Day1: Today the adventures included driving. Not just regular driving on pavement, but driving through large construction sites with no cones or traffic directors (meaning we were driving next to or behind the very large machinery doing the work!), and over a mountain ridge on a dirt road which resulted in our friends turning literally orange in our back seat because of all the dust that came into our car! They looked like they had put on way too much self tanning lotion. We passed areas that looked like small rivers where only 2 weeks before, when the road wasn’t completely ready, Jason had driven in the team’s exploratory trip. God was gracious and we had no car problems. Once we got to San Jose, our resting point for the evening, the guys went to get the wood from the carpenter that had been ordered ahead of time and found it only to be half completed. So the men took what was available out to Fua to have ready for the next day and told the carpenters to finish the rest by the next day.
Day 2: This day our team went to work in Fua, a small Ayore community about 40 from San Jose. The primary goal of the day was to put up some walls on the church building and by the end of the day (after a few generator problems) the guys got quite a bit accomplished. Jason had a blast teaching the Ayore kids to use old 2 liter bottles of soda cut up to scoop a pest beetle off of the community’s pepper plants so they would be able to produce peppers for them. Toni Mercado and Julie Kidd set up their medical supplies and were able to help out lots of community members by examining them and handing out medication. I was able to count pills and write instructions for people. Bush medicine is very interesting, that’s for sure!
Ayore girls playing a hand game
Jason, Joe and Julie Kidd taking some measurements
We also had along Cesar and Mirta, the couple who lives near us in Poza Verde, and they hung out for the day. In the afternoon Mirta led some singing in Ayore, and Cesar gathered the people for a little church service. We met at the entrance of someone’s house since the church building was still being worked on. It was an awesome little service, simple, but so beautiful. Cesar started out by telling a story- a story that even had me captivated- and then used that story to make a poignant point about the need to come to Jesus. He has amazing abilities to make stories have a point, one thing that I really appreciate about indigenous cultures. 
"Welcome to the church. No spitting."
All in all it was a good, long, hot, tiring, special day. I love just spending time with people here and not necessarily having an ‘agenda’. There are some really fun things that go on. 
Hanging out with the town, watching the guys do the church construction
So Day 3: The men went in the morning back to Fua to work some more on the church. The ladies took the morning to go to the Ayore part of San Jose to do a little singing, service, and seeing medical patients. We were waiting for some of the Christian ladies to come back from an appointment so Toni and Julie started doing medical work. Emily, Toni’s daughter, brought a guitar and so they asked me to play a few songs. I tried to pick ones I knew in Spanish J We had just finished up the medical attention when a truck full of politicians drove up and wanted to talk to the Ayoreos (who were of the opposite political party). Toni decided it was time for us to leave so we headed out and spent some time at Mirta’s family’s house in San Jose before meeting the guys for lunch. That afternoon we spent driving to Santiago, a small town another probably 2 hours down the road. The scenery was gorgeous! Think US southwest, but greener. That evening Jason, Ken Massey, Toni and Placido met with a local leader in Santiago. They spoke with him about what some of the needs in the area are so that we can potentially partner with him in the future. Historically our mission had a big influence in the Santiago area so we are looking to potentially expand again in that direction. While this meeting was going on, I went to visit the memorial for the 5 men (from New Tribes Mission) who were martyred by the Ayore back in 1943 when they were first trying to contact the group. For those who are interested in more of the story you can read “God Planted Five Seeds” which details their experiences and what happened. The memorial was simple, a wooden cross mounted on a large limestone outcropping with a small plaque next to it. It definitely makes you think about how much these missionaries gave up for the Ayoreos in order to reach them.
Toni Mercado, our team leader, working with some of the medical patients
Day 4: We awoke to find out that there was a bloqueo (blockade) on the other side of San Jose and that our chances of getting home this day were slim. So we took our time getting back to San Jose and took a little detour to a town called Chochis where there are super cool rock formations. We found a little sanctuary and hiked around a bit (well, they hiked, I walked on the paths). The views were beautiful and it was a lovely day. We eventually got back to San Jose and got another phone call that the bloqueo would be open for 2 hours, so we quickly scrambled back into our cars to head that direction, hoping to get through without problems. As we approached the bridge where the bloqueo was, we found only twigs as remnants of what had formerly been there. A long ride back and we were finally home again, again without any problems.
(View of "Devil's Tooth" in Chochis)
Overall, great trip. It was fun to spend time getting to know another Ayore community and seeing some of the historical areas of Bolivia where missionaries first were trying to contact the Ayore. It was great to spend time with our teammates, getting to know them better and doing service together. Lots of adventure, lots of uncertain moments, but through it all, God was present.
Thanks for your prayers as we went!
