El Fin

I should start by saying that the internet has been out at the hospital lately, so I have had a hard time writing new blogs and apologize for those of you who may have been looking and waiting for one. As I write this blog I cannot express my strange, bitter-sweet emotions at this time, for in the morning I am departing from Cochabamba, Bolivia to begin the long journey home, and I must say that I am not ready to go.


I certainly love the U.S and my home in Hickory, North Carolina, but I have grown accustomed to life in Bolivia over the past 6 weeks, and I will have a hard time leaving this country and its people behind. Thus, over the past week I have said many good byes. It started with Casa De Alegria, the all girls orphanage that we have been working with. Last week we held an English camp for the girls at Casa De Alegria, and we found out on Friday afternoon that the government here is shutting down their orphanage. Apparently, the girls had to work and sell things for the orphanage just to keep it financially afloat. Some of the girls complained, and the government claimed that their complaints proved that they were being exploited by the orphanage. We(the volunteers) were asked to leave as Social Services came to Carachipampa Christian School(where the camp was held) to talk to the girls about the future of Casa De Alegria. You must understand that for many of these girls their friends at the orphanage are their family, so it was very hard for some of them to swallow this new information. Nevertheless, I was still thankful for the opportunity to serve them and to hopefully give them just a little glimpse of what God's love is like. Please pray for the girls of Casa De Alegria as they move forward into new orphanages. Please pray that they will know that God is in control and will lean on him in this difficult time.


Yesterday I worked in the hospital for the final time. I felt so strange as I walked through the halls, spoke with the interns, and shadowed the Pediatrician. I can remember doing such things several times early on in this trip. I never realized how much I had taken them for granted until now. 


After working at HOH, I traveled to the big government hospital, Movimiento Sonrisa(smile movement) with Anna to work in the baby unit with malnourished children. Thankfully, there were only 4 children in this unit, 3 of which were boys. As we arrived we noticed that there was another volunteer from another organization there. Her name was Sarah and she was from Luxembourg. I was amazed when she told me that she was fluent in 6 languages! I may never know whether or not Sarah knew Christ, but I was delighted to have met her. Please pray for Sarah.


Sarah was a real champ and was great with the kids, so I felt slightly out of place until two of the children woke up and needed to be fed. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly jump on this opportunity. Even though the children desperately needed food, the food they were given was a smelly bowl of soupy rice(that is the best way I can think to describe it). I wanted to feed a child but was repulsed at the smell of this new concoction; thus, I was afraid I would vomit if I fed a child. Thankfully, God gave me the strength I needed(and Anna talked to me to distract me from the smell), so I was able to feed the biggest child(who, I'd like to point out, had the largest bowl of rice). Most of these children did not have families or had very difficult family situations, so they could definitely use your prayers.


Today, we traveled to the orphanage Casa De Amor Uno for the last time. Sadly, the children at this particular orphanage are between the ages of 3 months and 4 years, so they will probably not remember me. I had been to this particular orphanage about 6 times, and some of the children grew somewhat attached to me, which made it even harder to leave in the end. However, I had a great last experience with these orphans and will always remember them( even though they may never remember me). Therefore, in many ways I feel that they have had a bigger impact on my life than I ever could have had on theirs.


Before leaving Casa De Amor Uno I got directions from a volunteer there on how to get to Casa De Amor Dos. Unfortunately, I followed her directions to a tee, but the trufi that I got on took us a mile from the main road and into the countryside. Our trufi driver parked his trufi in the middle of a country road, turned around, and smiled. At this point I asked him, "El Fin?"(the end?). He acknowledged that this was, indeed, the end of his route. I paid him and we went on our way, deciding to walk back out to the main road. After our trufi mishap, everyone was a little shaky about following the directions we were given, so we tried to walk the rest of the way to the orphanage. Sadly, after walking about 4 kilometers, I and one of the other volunteers started to feel sick, so we decided to head back to the guest house. I was disappointed that I did not get to see the orphans at Casa De Amor Dos one last time, but I trust that they are in God's plans. Please say a prayer for the children at Casa De Amor Dos.


Perhaps my saddest moment was saying goodbye to my good, new friend Nestor Hugo. Anna and I went to Nestor Hugo's office on Monday around noon, knowing that it would be the last time we would see him. He joyfully greeted us and invited us to his birthday party on this coming Saturday, but we had to decline since we are traveling back to the U.S before then. Our time with him was short but sweet. He said "I am thankful for my new friends in my God." After that he asked if he could pray with us in Spanish and, of course, we accepted his request. As always, I remember feeling empowered in the presence of this man, not because he was anything particularly special, but because he believed so powerfully in the power of God that it was infectious. I remember that when I first arrived in Bolivia I had a very difficult time understanding Nestor Hugo's Spanish prayers, but I have improved my Spanish skills greatly since being here, so I understood most of what he said. He asked God to protect us, prosper us, help us with our studies, and most of all, he asked God to not let anything get in the way of our future happiness. Indeed, I had grown to love this man, and it was very hard to say goodbye to him. Please continue to pray for the ministry of Nestor Hugo as he cares for the people of Bolivia.


In conclusion, I can look back on my experience in Bolivia and smile. I know that I have grown so much more from 6 weeks of ministry here than I ever could from time spent in a classroom. I have had many wonderful experiences, seen many wonderful things, and met many wonderful people. I thank God for this opportunity and want to say thank you to all of you who have been so supportive of me during my time here and leading up to this trip. I hope that you have enjoyed reading my blog, and I would love to share more details with all of you in person if I ever get a chance......until then. Hasta Luego


Kevin Quinby

"I See A Generation".....

            So I haven’t written in a while, but I can explain why. First of all, as I said on my last blog, we had a VBS at the local public school in Vinto, which was very consuming. However, there were also several new volunteers arriving at the guest house throughout the week, so I was spending some time getting to know all of them. There are now people here from Florida, California, Massachussets, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, the Carolinas, and Maine.

            

You probably remember from my last blog that we were struggling with language barriers at the VBS and God was opening doors there. Well, I am pleased to tell you all that a Bolivian translator named Adriana came with us to the school on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and she helped us share Bible stories with the kids. Having Adriana around was a huge relief, because with her help we were able to focus solely on leading games. Therefore, everything went more smoothly on Wednesday and even more so on Friday. In fact, Adriana shared the story of Noah and the story of Christ’s death and resurrection with the kids, and six of them accepted Christ as their Lord and savior. I don’t know the kids names, but please pray for them and, at the very least, the seed that has been planted in them.

            

We are actually more than maxed out at the guest house right now, as there are currently 26 people living in the guest house, and it is only meant to house about 20 people. I have really enjoyed meeting all of the new volunteers and have yet to meet someone that I don’t like. I say this because I can see that God is going to do great things through the current volunteers at the guest house. Last night something remarkable happened. All of the volunteers randomly got together and decided to sing some worship songs together. Normally, you might expect something like this on a missions trip, but, for whatever reason, this was the first time this had happened while I have been here. It was amazing, because not only did we spontaneously get together, but we probably sung for about 45 minutes just because we wanted to. After that we prayed together and went to bed.

I remember that one particular song stuck with me, and that song was “Hosanna” by the band “Hillsong.” There is one particular part of the song that always moved and that is the lyrics “I see a generation, rising up to take their place, with selfless faith.” Being a “joven”(young person) I have always loved the imagery in that lyric of the coming generation rising up as we grow into places of leadership, but I was always bothered by the fact that I felt like I couldn’t really see my peers “rising up to take their place.” In truth, I have seen my peers have passion for the Lord since I was just 14, but I had yet to see my generation stand in maturity and boldly live out their faith. As I sat in a small room in Bolivia, singing praises to the Lord for more than 45 minutes with people from age 19 to 28, I suddenly felt like I could see my generation “rising up to take their place” for the first time in my life. Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors in college, Med students, Nursing students, a Nurse, and a Pharmacist all sung to their hearts content. Indeed, this was a wonderful and inspiring experience, and I cannot wait to see what God does through this group.

The following day(Sunday, which is today) we went to church with the Lab Director at the hospital, Daniel. Daniel’s church was a small, Baptist church in the city of Cochabamba, and the entire service was in Spanish(which I have become accustomed to). We had to focus really hard to follow along, but everyone was very welcoming to us, and one man even translated some of the service for us. Believe it or not, Bolivia sends missionaries around the world(or at least around South America), and we got to pray for some of the said missionaries today. Even though this small church only had a congregation of about 40 people, 5 of the jovenes(young people) at the church are going on a 2 week mission trip to Sao Paulo, Brasil next month, and the congregation at this tiny church in Cochabmaba, Bolivia prayed for them this morning. The pastor of this church said that the Jovenes are going to preach to the people of Sao Paulo while they are there. Once again, I found this very exciting and inspiring, because the Jovenes were all between age 20 and 26. Yes, God is even raising up a new generation in Bolivia to go share the gospel with the world.

So for all of you out there that are worried about the future of the church(and I know there are many of you), I hope that my experiences have been as inspiring for you as they have for me(or at least as encouraging). For the first time in my life I feel like I can say with confidence that “I see a generation, rising up to take their place, with selfless faith.” Furthermore, this rising generation goes beyond the U.S, beyond Canada, beyond North America, and even beyond the ever-growing population of Christians in the small nation of South Korea. This generation even extends far into the South American nation of Bolivia, the poorest nation in South America. Rest assured, God is moving and the young 20 somethings of the world are growing, and God is preparing their hearts for future service and leadership. I no longer think of this type of thing as an idealism or hope; I now think of it as a reality. Please continue to pray for my generation. I can honestly say that prayer is working and God is doing great things. Stay tuned! I’ll let you know how things are going again later this week. Hasta Luego!

Kevin Quinby 

"Yo Tengo Un Amigo Que Me Ama"

         I have found that God often gives us little experiences that we will later use, and we don’t know it at the time. The last time we were at kid washing in downtown Cochabamba there were so many volunteers that it was difficult for me to find a constructive way to help. Toward the end of kid-washing, I remember wandering around and looking at all the people that had been at kid-washing that day. A Bolivian man serving with us pulled out his guitar and began to play some Spanish worship tunes that I had never heard before. I had a difficult time following along with most of them, but there was one that I learned word for word just from listening to it, and it was called “Yo Tengo Un Amigo Que Me Ama.” I enjoyed learning the song, but I didn’t realize at the time that I would use this song again later.

        
           Things have been a little crazy and unsettled here lately. The trufi drivers throughout the country planned a nationwide blockade of all the main roads in Bolivia, and the taxi drivers were on board with this idea as well. I won’t get into all the details, but the trufi drivers were angry because of recent legislation that had been passed by Bolivia’s President, Evo Morales. The blockades were set to begin indefinitely on Monday. As you may imagine, this would have throw a real “kink” into the ministry of Hospitals of Hope. These blockades would keep us from reaching the orphanages we’re serving at and keep people from reaching the hospital. Thankfully, the trufi drivers decided to not blockade the roads, and no one knows why(at least, none of the volunteers knows why). So all is well now, but I have told you all this so that you may know the situation and be prepared to pray for it. The trufi drivers are still not happy, so please pray that Bolivia’s government will seek a solution to end this ongoing turmoil.

            
         Thankfully, we were not planning to go into the city this week, but we actually are doing clinics and a VBS at the local elementary school in the town of Vinto. We are holding the VBS on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and we are now going to orphanages on Tuesday and Thursday since the blockades have been lifted(Tuesday and Thursday are holidays, so the Hospital will be closed). Basically, we give the kids check ups and play games and tell Bible stories to them while they wait in line.

Anna and I planned the Bible lessons for the VBS, and yesterday we took our first stab at delivering them. Unfortunately, the kids were so full of energy that we ended up playing with them more than telling them about Jesus. I grew slightly discouraged, because our language barrier made it difficult for us to share at times. Bible stories that would have been very easy to explain in English were a heavy task in Spanish. Just when I was beginning to ask God to open a door for us, he threw a gate wide open, and he used our skin color to do so.

The children, noticing that we were white, knew that we would know English. Before I could blink there was a crowd of children around Anna and I asking us to teach them some English. We started by teaching them colors and numbers, and they were thrilled, but they wanted to learn more and more. Next, we had the idea to teach them the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” in English. This worked out wonderfully, because it was simple enough and the kids knew the song in Spanish. After teaching them a song, they wanted to learn more. I didn’t realize it during kid washing the week before, but this moment was the reason why God had given me the privilege to learn the song “Yo Tengo Un Amigo Que Me Ama.” So I had the idea to teach the kids the song in English, and, thankfully, they were all familiar with it in Spanish. So, Anna and I taught the kids the song in English, and I was so thankful that God had opened that door for us, because they enjoyed the song, they loved learning it, and it was actually beneficial. You should know that in English, the lyrics to that song mean, “I have a friend that loves me, his name is Jesus.” From that point on it seemed that all barriers were down and we were able to communicate clearly.

Please pray that God will continue to open such doors for us and continue to break down language barriers. We will return to the school tomorrow and on Friday. Please pray that things go well and that our kindness will exhibit the love of Christ for the children of Vinto. We have potential for great things here, and God is certainly moving and working. Thank you all for your prayers.

Kevin Quinby   

teaching English to the kids :)

Praying With The Pastor

Just two days ago I had a very interesting experience in the Hospital. Many of the main roads had been blockaded by Trufi drivers, because the drivers were fighting policies that the government was trying to impose. Adding this inconvenience to the general population of Bolivia pressured the government to lift the policies(trufis are a very common form of public transportation that many people use). However, since the roads had been blockaded many Doctors and patients were unable to reach the hospital. 


I was going to shadow the Orthopaedic Doctor, but all his patients were unable to reach the hospital that day due to the blockades. Fortunately, he reached the hospital and performed a surgery. I watched him screw a rod into a woman's shoulder to repair her broken clavical, which was certainly interesting to see. But, that was not the highlight of my day. The Orthopaedic Doctor's work was done after he had finished the surgery, so I was done shadowing him around 11:00 A.M and had more time on my hands than usual.


I remembered that the Pastor at the hospital asked the volunteers to share their testimonies with the people in the waiting room, but none of us were sure if we could handle the Spanish involved in sharing a testimony, so we quickly forgot his request. I decided that if I went to him and told him I was willing to share that God would find a way to do something with it even if I had a language barrier to overcome. So, with my new found time I searched for the Pastor's office. After asking the receptionist where he was and searching in all the locations she had suggested, by a sheer stroke of luck(or perhaps divine providence) I saw him enter his office and followed him.


I sheepishly knocked on his door and was greeted with a slightly broken English form of the phrase "Good Morning!" The Pastor was very excited that I had come to visit him and quickly told me to sit down. He was so excited that I could hardly get a word in and was certainly unable to ask him about sharing my testimony. Our conversation started out as a typical one but deepened over time. He asked me where I was from first, and I showed him on a map. He then told me that he had a brother in the United States in "Washington, Virginia!"(which I can only assume is Washington D.C), and he showed me several pictures of his brother and other family members. 


It turns out that only he and one of his siblings still lives in Bolivia. He has two brothers and a sister living in Australia, and one brother in the U.S. He briefly told me about his recent acquisition of a Doctorate degree in Christian Psychology from Central Christian University in Orlando, Florida, and he showed me his degree(apparently, they have a branch in La Paz, Bolivia, and the pastor took online classes through that branch). I smiled as the pastor showed me his accomplishments like a young boy after he has hit his first home run or scored his first touch down.


Of course, the Pastor asked me if I was a Christian and baptized, and I said yes. I was surprised when he said to me, "Kevin, pray for the Doctors in Hospital. Many of them not Christian yet." I raised my eyebrows in response and said "Really? Es Verdad?(is true). And he nodded his head up and down to indicate that his statement was true. From that moment on our conversation was strictly focused on prayer, and I felt empowered by the faith of the pastor, simply because he believed so strongly that God was always at work and that praying to him was always helpful. He told me that his name is Nestor Hugo, and he asked me to pray for his brothers and sister. He said "none of them Christian yet. I cry every night for them all." 


I told him that I would pray for them, thinking that I would take a passive approach and silently pray for them all later away from him, but this pastor would have none of that. He loved his family, he loved the people in the hospital, and he loved the people of Bolivia, so what he did next surprised me. The pastor bent his knees and said "How you say in English "aurodilla?" The word Rodilla is the Spanish word for knee, so I linked his expression and the action of bending his knees with a posture of prayer, so I said in response "on your knees?" The pastor, elated that I had understood him said "yes! yes! on your knees! Okay, we pray now, you in English and me in Spanish! Just moment." Before I could even back pedal and ask questions the pastor had grabbed pillows and laid them at the foot of a couple chairs in his office.    It had all happened so quickly that I didn't have time to think. For some reason, we don't pray this way in the states. It's strange, as if we think that we are somehow above kneeling before our Lord and Father in Heaven. I realized all this in that moment, and decided that I would not let myself back out of this or look for a more comfortable situation. Nestor Hugo was right to want to pray in such a way, and I had decided that rather than wondering if it was okay, I would embrace the situation. 


So Nestor Hugo and I got down on our knees, and all I asked him was "do you want me to pray first, or you?" He told me that he would pray first, I would pray second. I nodded my head in agreement and closed my eyes to begin talking to the Lord. I could only understand bits and pieces of Nestor's prayer, but I remember I will never forget the first two words of his prayer: "Padre Celestial"(Heavenly Father). After Nestor was done I prayed for all the things we had agreed upon. I loved this moment. I remember feeling that God was more real to me than ever, not that he never was real to me, but Nestor's faith had clearly rubbed off on me. I remember my prayer feeling more full and alive. I felt like I had picked up a telephone to call God, and he was really, truly listening on the other side and even responding from time to time.


After praying with Nestor, we stood up and shook hands. He asked me when I could come again, and I told him tomorrow at 1:00. In all the excitement of prayer, I had completely forgotten to ask him about sharing my testimony, but I realized afterward that God had me there in Nestor's office for a different purpose. As I left Nestor's office he said to me "I can't wait to see you tomorrow, my new friend and brother in Christ."


I remember being amazed that even though I was not fluent in Spanish and he was not fluent in English, we still managed to communicate nearly perfectly. This was just more evidence that God was completely involved in this encounter. After going back and telling everyone about my adventure, Anna said that she wanted to join me tomorrow, so the two of us went to see the pastor the next day. We were more pressed for time the following day, but the pastor was just as excited and jubilant as he was the first day. This time, our meeting was more focused on teaching English and Spanish to one another, but the meeting was still very fruitful. He had also invited one of the PT's that worked in the hospital, Sessia, and she was just 21 years old. Sessia has even less English skills than Nestor, so we had to pause every now and then to clue her in on what was going on, but we still had no trouble communicating. At the end we all picked one thing(per the Pastor's request) to pray for, and we all prayed together. Nestor wants to keep meeting with me and other volunteers from time to time to continue to learn English and to help teach us more Spanish. Even now, I'm not sure when I will get to share my testimony with the people in the waiting room, but even if I never get to that point I feel that my time with him has been truly fruitful.


Please pray for the family of Nestor Hugo De La Fuente, the Pastor at Hospitals of Hope. My favorite thing that Nestor always says when he talks about someone who isn't a Christian is "He(or she) is not a Christian yet." He always puts the word "yet" in there, because he believes so strongly that God cares about all those people and is going to do something to draw people to himself. Indeed, Christianity is not just a North American religion. It is a religion of South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and even Europe, and it is even more than a religion. It is a movement that, given time, has swept over the globe. How do I know? Because even in countries like Bolivia, countries with devout followers of tribal traditions, countries where people bury llama fetuses to appease mother earth, or even bury people alive, there are people like Nestor Hugo following Christ and leading the way, boldly showing others that God is good and loves all.


Kevin Quinby

The Hands of God and Winds of Change

For the past two weeks we have gone to Spanish speaking churches, which has been really fun and interesting. However, we were all relieved today when we went to a church that was half Spanish and half English this morning. The church was called Cochabamba International Church or CIC for short, and it was comprised of missionary families and people from the local community. 

Upon our arrival at CIC, we were quickly taken on a walk down memory lane when we saw some orphans from Casa De Amor Dos in the seats with us. These were orphans from one of the local orphanages that we had been too, and they were very happy to see us. We also saw the missionaries who run the kid washing on Saturdays that we have helped out with, and we saw Tim, the man who ran the CBA clinic, and his youngest son. Seeing so many familiar faces sure was delightful, and it put into perspective all that we had done since arriving in Cochabamba. 

After worshiping half in English and half in Spanish(the words would switch between the two languages on the screens at the church) one of the pastors at CIC got up and began to deliver his sermon. He also recognized many of the different missionaries and ministries that were taking place around the city. Once again, I was very excited to see all that God was doing and is doing in Bolivia. We often walk into experiences like the one I am currently in hoping to make a great difference. And, I will be honest, I still do hope to have the biggest impact I can with the time that I am here. However, we often forget that God is moving and working all over the world all the time. I saw today that there are hundreds of Americans, Europeans, and even Bolivians that God has called to work in an around Bolivia for the purpose of spread the gospel and glorifying his name. Then, it dawned on me that God doesn't need me. In fact, he doesn't really need any of us, yet we are given the privilege of sharing his love with others in the U.S and throughout the world. Indeed, we should make the most of every opportunity that we are given, and we should certainly feel a burden for the lost people of the world, but we should also remember that it is not all on our shoulders. Because the Lord is the master gardener, and he knows what he's doing....

On another note, things around HOH are getting ready to change for the volunteers. Just recently, two new guest house hostesses arrived, and they are eager to implement some new ideas that should make us more effective in our ministries within the hospital and the city of Cochabamba as a whole. I am nearing the halfway point of my time here, so I am excited that the change has come at this time. Please pray that God will use these changes to aid the volunteers at HOH, and pray that we will continue to be pushed outside of our comfort zones and love the people of Bolivia with great courage and compassion. The winds of change are blowing. Stay tuned for what lies ahead.....

Kevin Quinby

Quiero Ayudar Mas, Pero No Sabe Como

Yesterday, we were scheduled to go to Casa De Alegria in the morning, but I opted to stay and work in the hospital instead, and I certainly did not regret that decision in the end. There is currently only one other guy volunteer at the guest house right now, and he(Wes is his name), opted to go to the hospital as well. Wes left a little earlier than me, so I had to try to find him once I arrived at the hospital. I couldn’t find him anywhere to see who he was shadowing, so I decided to “follow my nose” and find a Doctor to follow.

Luckily, the Internal Medicine Doctor’s door was open, so I poked my head into his door and asked, “puede mirar?”(am I able to look or watch). Of course, he welcomed me, and he had a med student shadowing him as well. The medical student, much to my delight, was very interested in me as a person and asked me several questions. Through a short conversation with him I found out that his name was Jhoel, and he was from Peru, yet he went to Medical School in Cochabamba. I was glad to have Jhoel with me because he tried to include me in everything that was going on, and he tried to help me keep up with things, which was very nice because this Doctor was the quickest and most intense speaker and worker I had followed yet.

The Doctor saw 16 patients in just 2 hours. I’m sure you can do that math. Basically, he only had about 8 or so minutes to see each patient and then he sent them on their way. As many of you may know, Internal Medicine can be pretty rough. Typically, people don’t go see an Internal Medicine Doctor unless something is very wrong with them, and that certainly holds true to Bolivia.

The people that we saw throughout the day had the worst health of any people I had seen in my life. The Doctor moved so quickly that I was unable to ask him questions until the end, but I remember I often wanted to tell him, “quiero ayudar mas, pero no sabe como,” which roughly translated means “I want to help more, but I don’t know how.” This was certainly my most difficult day in the hospital, because every single patient we saw was in dire need of help. Mostly, I ended up smiling, saying buen dia(good day), and helping them sit down and stand up from examination tables.

There were two patients in particular that stuck with me. One was an elderly woman whose right lung was leaking. The doctor took her into another room and drained about 1 Liter of a yellow liquid from her lungs. I’m not sure what the liquid was, but the procedure was certainly interesting. He told her that her heart had to work much harder because of the liquid that was draining from her lungs, and he scheduled her for surgery at another clinic in Cochabamba.

While the last patient I mentioned was interesting, the final patient of the day is the one that will stay with me forever. It was a very elderly woman who came into the room with her two daughters. The daughters appeared to be in their 40s or maybe early 50s, so I am guessing the patient was in her upper 70s or lower 80s. As they entered the room I said “Hola” to them, and none of them responded. This was very perplexing for me, because everyone in Bolivia and especially in the hospital has always been kind and welcoming toward me. In fact, people usually says “Hola” and “Buen Dia” to me before I am able to say it to them. However, there was something different about the demeanor of these women, and it had to do with the health of their mother. I glanced at the mother and immediately noticed that she had three large, jaw-breaker sized lumps in her throat(A goiter perhaps, or cancer? I thought to myself). Also, the lumps were purple.

The Doctor’s demeanor was also very different during his time with these women. The very first thing he said to them was “What can I do for you?” He had dove right in with every other patient as if he knew what they needed, but it appeared that with this one he knew from the beginning that he could not give her what she needed. The women, looking and sounding distressed, told him that a clinic in Cochabamba had examined their mother and asked his opinion of the examination. Then, they handed him a piece of paper with the results of that examination, and he began to read. The room fell into a dead silence as the Doctor poured over the examination notes. As he finished reading the paper, he stopped, rubbed his temples, breathed deeply, removed his glasses, and paused for a moment. I did not know what was written on the paper, but I could tell from the Doctor’s response that it was something grave, indeed. When he finally spoke again, he said to the women “Well, there’s not much I can do for you. The paper says it plainly. She has cancer. She needs surgery or radiation treatment. Then, one of the daughters said to the Doctor, “Puedes le examen?” Meaning, “can you at least examine her?” And the Doctor said in response “Si, puede examen.”

I watched as he examined her, and I knew something that the women didn’t know. I had watched this doctor examine people all day, and I could tell that he did not examine this woman as thoroughly as he did all the other patients. Once again, this was because he did not feel like he had to discover the problem, for it was in clear sight for all to see, and the ladies had already heard what needed to be done. However, this Doctor, compassionate as he was, examined the patient with care. Afterwards, he sat down with the woman and her daughters and gave them directions and an address to a clinic that could give the woman proper care. I’ll never forget his final words to them before they left “Hay esperanza”(there is hope).

I learned today that modern medicine is certainly a wonderful thing, but it certainly has its limits, and Doctors are often more than scientists. Sometimes, we must recognize that we have reached the limit of our capacity to help others, and when that occurs we must leave things in the hands of God. And this is not a passive action. We pray for others, knowing that the Lord is a better healer than any of us could ever be. So, I wanted to help more today, but, just like the Doctor, I had to realize when things were out of my hands and in the hands of God, but aren’t they always. Indeed, we often have a false sense of control over our lives. In the end, I felt that God had answered my question. Quiro ayudar mas, pero no sabe como. Now, I know what I can do to help more. I can pray. I can pray with everything that I have, not just yearning and hoping that God will do something to help, but also knowing that he has the power to do so.


Kevin Quinby 

A Wonder of The World

To most U.S citizens(I have started calling Americans that since coming to South America) Bolivia is probably a fairly unknown country. With the worst economy in South America and no coast line, Bolivia has been isolated from the outside world until the recent rise of the internet and globalization. Therefore, many people probably don't know that Bolivia actually has a very interesting tourist attraction, one that I would dare to say should be considered one of the seven wonders of the world(that, of course, is just my opinion). That tourist attraction is the Salar De Uyuni, and I just got back after traveling to the Salar for a couple days.

The Salar De Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat. That may not sound very exciting at first, but just hang in there, and I promise you'll be amazed. The Salar was formed after two techtonic plates collided, causing two large lakes, one fresh water and one salt water, to flow into one another. I am not sure how the chemistry behind this works, but apparently it created the Salar. Therefore, when you think of the Salar think of one of the Great Lakes being covered in solid salt. It takes approximately one hour to drive from one end of the Salar to the other if you're going at a speed of about 50 miles/hour, and the Salar has an island in the middle of it called Inca Huasi. 

So now that you have the background info, let me tell you about the trip and all the ways that God provided for us. Our plan was to travel to the city of Oruro by bus and then to take an overnight bus that we could sleep on to the town of Uyuni, and we were also going to take buses back. However, as many of you know, traveling rarely goes as planned, especially in the third world.

First of all, I forgot to bring my passport(I realize this was a bonehead move in hindsight, but I had good reasons behind not bringing it). I wasn't sure if I would need it for the trip, and I didn't want to lose it in the process of traveling, so I left it behind. Nevertheless, I called the guest house and got my passport number from someone that was there. I never had to look back from that point, so a disaster was averted. This was just the beginning of how God provided for us and gave us(as the phrase goes) traveling mercies.

The bus ride to Oruro was fairly pleasant. The roads were steep and windy, so I got a little carsick, but all in all the drive was very picturesque and pleasant. The overnight busride to Uyuni was another story though. After arriving in Oruro, we looked at the departure times for buses going to Uyuni from all of the different companies to try to find the latest time. The latest departure time we could find was 9:00 P.M, which put us arriving at Uyuni at 4:00 A.M. Since we were determined to see the Salar, we decided a 4:00 A.M arrival was a price worth paying. Uyuni is a very isolated town in the middle of the desert and if it weren't for the tourism surrounding the Salar, the town would probably not exist today. Therefore, the road to Uyuni was, perhaps, the most uncomfortable road I have ever been on. The bus shook and rattled all the way to Uyuni while we tried to sleep along the way. 

Upon our arrival, we realized that some of us had stomach sickness, but we persevered throughout the day and made it a positive experience anyway. Our bus driver was kind enough to let us stay on the bus until 7:00 A.M, which was very kind of him since Uyuni is so cold and no businesses would have been open at 4:00 A.M. This is just another that I feel God provided for us.

When 7:00 A.M rolled around, we wandered into town and were approached by several travel agents. I had only brought a certain amount of money for the trip, so I was nervous about having enough money for the tour and for bus rides back. On a gut instinct, we went with a travel agent that ended up giving us a grand deal, and she even let us stay in her office late at night because we decided to take a train back to Oruro with hopes that it would be more comfortable than a bus(more on that later).

We went on a tour that took us to a train graveyard, over the Salar, to the Island of Inca Huasi, to the town of Colchani, and to a salt museum. All of these things were very exciting, but the Salar definitely topped them all. We stopped at the beginning of the Salar and took several pictures before driving for another half hour to reach the Island of Inca Huasi in the Salar's center. The Salar appeared to go on and on, never stopping. As we drove over it I felt like I was in some arctic wasteland and that Penguins and Polar Bears should be surrounding me. I remember our driver made some sharp turns, and I always felt like we were going to spin out on the "ice," but I had to remind myself that we weren't driving on ice; we were driving on salt.

There was a man from Chile named Roberto in our group who spoke just a bit of English, so I practiced my Spanish on him while he practiced his English on me. He told me that the Salar is one of the few things in the world that astronauts have reported seeing from space, and he also said that during the rainy season the Salar gets covered with a small amount of water that reflects the light from both the sun and the moon, making the sky and the ground indistinguishable from one another. Roberto also told me that he doesn't have many friends, so he travels a lot. I hope from the kindness that our group showed to him that he saw the love of Christ in us. Please pray for Roberto.

After the tour was over, we ate dinner, wandered around town a bit more, and went back to our travel agent's office. As I said before, since we booked a train that left at 1:45 A.M, she let us stay in her office until that time, and she even lit a gas heater for us before we left. This was a huge blessing, because we didn't have to pay for a hotel room, but we still had a warm place to stay and rest. While in the office, we had a time of praise and worship and a time of prayer. It was awesome to see how God had provided for us so greatly while on this trip and led us to places that we could not have planned to go ourselves.

Unfortunately, at about 12:30 one of our team members fell very ill. We wandered around town looking for a bathroom for her, but there was not a single open public bathroom in the entire town. This was the first time during the trip that I think we were all wondering what God was doing, especially after he had provided so well for us up to that point. We got to a point where we picked up our bags and went to the train station, having lost all hope of finding a bathroom. Thankfully, God provided for us once again while we were in the station. There was a very nice couple from Santa Cruz in the station who offered our sick team member immodium. We gratefully accepted their offer and hopped aboard the train, feeling relieved that God has provided for us in a miraculous way. We even saw that couple again before we boarded our bus from Oruro to Cochabamba, and they told us their address so that we could visit them in Cochabamba.

In the end, I felt very blessed by our trip to Uyuni. While it was rough at times, God continuously provided for us and got us out of jams in times of need. This was the first time during my entire time in Bolivia that I had done something strictly as a tourist and not as a volunteer. Yet, during this experience I and my group had to rely on God and learned and grew in bigger ways than we had foreseen. In addition to all that, we got to see one of the greatest things in all of God's creation, the Salar De Uyuni. I wouldn't have traded seeing the Salar for seeing any other wonder of the world.

Kevin Quinby