The Least of These

Today was the longest, most grueling, and yet most satisfying day I have had so far. The hospital is closed on weekends, so the guest house hosts, Guillermo and Claudia, typically plan activities for the volunteers on weekends. This weekend they planned a trip to the Incan Ruins of Rikaya. These ruins are found in the town of Sipe Sipe, which is west of Vinto. After that we were supposed to go to the main plaza in Cochabamba to work with some other missionaries in Bolivia, washing children and giving them bread and toys.

So we left the guest house at 8:30 A.M, and I can tell you now that I was not prepared for this hike. We were told that we were going to hike up a mountain to see Inca Ruins at the top. I thought that the hike would be on a clearly marked trail and not too difficult, because no one had told me otherwise. Believing such a thing was a very big mistake though.

Sipe Sipe is a small, poor town. We arrived in the central plaza on Sipe Sipe at about 9:00 A.M, and we walked up the road to the mountain from there. After walking about half a mile, we reached the foot of the mountain and began our ascent. It became clear very quickly that I was not in the shape that I once was. It was about 75 degrees outside, and it is the dry season in Bolivia right now, so there was not much vegetation on the mountainside. The path was clearly marked with cobblestone steps for about the first third of the trek, but the steps and path were not well kept, so many steps were broken loose and not safe to step on.

Unfortunately, I only found out after the hike that every other volunteer with HOH is an athlete. Therefore, I was quickly left behind, and the other volunteers, thinking that the hike was only "pretty bad" did not tell me the about the severe difficulty of this hike. In the end, I almost made it to the top but ran out of time and had to head back down. I was very tired on the way up, but I didn't realize how far I had gone until I headed back down. I felt sick and started to run out of water on the way down. My legs started shaking, and I felt like I needed to throw up. Thankfully, I maintained my composure and made it down the mountain safely, and some of our fellow volunteers waited for us at the bottom, and they waited with us while we rested.

We used public transit after our descent to go to the town of Quillacollo and then to the central plaza of Cochabamba. The missionaries arrived at about 4:45 and began to set up for children washing. Basically, many people in Bolivia do not have access to clean water and soap or shampoo, so these missionaries set up a couple of tents in the plaza at the same time on every Saturday and use those tents to wash children and their hair. The missionaries also give bread and toys to the children. I was asked to give bread and told to tell the people that they could all only take one.

I thought this was a simple task, and I thought I could handle communicating in Spanish well enough. However, I found for the second time today that I was not as prepared as I had once thought. Every time a child or mother approached me for some bread I would tell them Solo uno cada persona(only one for each person). They seemed to understand this well enough, but sometimes they asked me questions, and I only understood bits and pieces of their questions. I tried to answer them, but sometimes they would look at me funny(especially the children). Therefore, I ended up asking another volunteer for some help, and with his help I was able to communicate adequately and gave away all of the bread.

I should also mention that I and two of my traveling companions, Anna and Sarah, brought several articles of clothing with us to Bolivia to give away to children. As children finished being bathed and dried, Anna asked them gave the girls dresses and the boys pants or shirts. After our experience at the plaza, I thought about the verse in Matthew in which Jesus says "Whatever you did for the least of these you did for me." Today, we clothed children, gave them bread, bathed them, and gave them toys. I feel like I experienced giving to the least of these for the first time in my life, and it was a wonderful experience. It is no wonder that the gospel in spreading so rapidly through Africa, Asia, and South America, for the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a rich man's gospel. Jesus came to serve and love all people, but the poor had a special place in his heart. I feel more than ever that the poor understand God's love and provision better than most people in the world. This alone has made my entire trip worthwhile.

Kevin Quinby

Cochabamba from the mountain. This picture was not taken from the top!

Feliz Dia Mama!

Today was the first day that I worked in the hospital, and it was certainly the best day that I have had yet. We started rounds at 8:00 A.M, which were entirely in Spanish. There are about 15 volunteers at Hospitales de Esperanza(Hospitals of Hope) right now, and most of us went on rounds, so there were about 13 of us following two of the main doctors in the Hospital. Since the patients and doctors only spoke Spanish, I couldn't always tell what was going on, but I got the major gist of everything.

After rounds, I went and worked en el Departmento Pediatricos(The Pediatrics Department). The Pediatrics doctor and her patients all only spoke Spanish, so I got much better at hearing and communicating in Spanish by the end of the day. We saw 8 children from 9:00 to 11:00, and most of their health problems were more severe than those of the children of the United States. As most of you probably know, most of the health problems in the U.S are due to obesity from over eating and not being active enough. This is also true for children in the U.S, but it is not so in Bolivia or most of the third world.

3 of the children that we saw today only had mild health concerns such as a cold or fever, but the other five were in fairly poor condition. One child had congenital heart disease, and another even had three parasites, one of which was Giardia(you can look that one up if you don't know what it is). Nevertheless, the children were very cute and pleasant, and the Pediatrics Doctor was also very pleasant and understanding about language barriers between English and Spanish. I found it very interesting that you could see some cultural differences between Bolivia and America but also some similarities by watching the parents of the children. The parents were all very concerned for the health of their children and even made the health of their children a higher priority than their own, which is similar to the U.S. However, more often than not grandmothers would come back to the examination room with mothers, which is different from the U.S.

I should mention that it is Mother's Day(Dia De Mama) in Bolivia today, and the hospital had many planned activities for this occasion. Mothers in the community were invited into the hospital for a presentation on proper breast feeding techniques and given raffle tickets to win door prizes. There were also children at a local school in the community who sang songs for their mothers, which was very fun to see and hear. At the end, the hospital provided everyone in attendance with some snacks and sodas.

I found it very encouraging to see that Hospitals of Hope is more than just a hospital. It is also a crucial part of the town of Vinto and city of Cochabamba as a whole. After the mother's day presentations, the pastor at the hospital shared the gospel in Spanish. Even though I couldn't understand every single word, I was able to pick up on quite a bit. He shared very openly and directly and was completely in his delivery of Biblical truth.

Please pray that the Bolivian people's hearts will continue to be touched and changed by the kindness and love that is being shown to them at Hospitals of Hope. This is truly a powerful and effective ministry, and I have no doubt that lives are being changed. Please keep the people of Cochabamba and all over Bolivia in your prayers.

Kevin Quinby

P.S I have found that if anyone mumbles around me I think they are speaking in Spanish now instead of English. It's pretty weird.

The Guest house where I am living.

The Lord is My Shepherd

So I finally made it into Bolivia, but not without some minor difficulties. For those of you who haven't traveled in the third world, let me just say that things can get a little interesting at times. We are used to transportation and communication being quick and efficient all the time in the U.S, but things are necessarily that way in most of the rest of the world.

So we arrived in La Paz, Bolivia at 5:30 A.M and fumbled our way through customs. We were told that many airport employees should speak English, but we found that none of the employees in customs spoke a bit of English. Therefore, there were some communication errors. For instance, I received a 40 day visa(which I'm not sure even exists) and one of my team members received a 30 day visa. Needless to say, we were a little shaky after going through customs, but the Lord provided for us in many amazing ways.

First of all, a very kind man helped us locate and transport our luggage. Sometimes people in the third world will provide such services to gringos(white people) just to charge them a gratuitous amount. However, this man was very helpful and did not pressure us into giving him money at all(though, it is understood in Bolivian cultures that you should at least provide a small tip for such services). This man helped us get all the way to the airport lobby, where we ran into a missionary from America named Kathy. Kathy's presence requires a small amount of explanation.

One member of my team is a girl named Rachel Holeman, and her parents were missionaries in Bolivia for the first 6 years of her life. Therefore, her parents contacted some missionary friends in La Paz, and those people contacted Kathy. Rachel had already booked a flight from La Paz to Cochabamba that left at 8:00 A.M, so Kathy helped her get her bags checked and pointed her in the direction of security. After that, she frantically ran around in an attempt to help us book a flight. I was so thankful to have her there, because we were discovering more and more that our Spanish skills were more limited than we had anticipated before our arrival. In the end, Kathy helped us get on a waiting list for a flight at 10:30. She also offered to take us down into the city while we waited on our flight, because she had another friend she needed to pick up and take to the airport. We accepted her offer and began to head down the windy streets of La Paz.

La Paz is the highest capital city in the world, and I have never seen anything like it. The airport was almost 14,000 feet above sea level, and the middle of the city was approximately 12,000 feet above sea level. As we descended into the city, we were surrounded by mountains and urban sprawl that was built into the side of the Andean Mountains. The city, though rugged, was very beautiful.

When we had finally arrived in the middle of the city, Kathy's friend had a lot of things that she needed to take to the airport, so Kathy left us with her friend's husband, Waldo. We stayed in Waldo's home for a few hours whie we waited for our flight, and I have never met a more hospitable human being than Waldo. One of our team member, Sarah, had terrible altitude sickness, so Waldo made her some coca tea to help her feel better. He was certainly not fluent in English, but he knew just enough to fill in the gaps that needed to be filled. Our time with Waldo was a great opportunity to practice Spanish in a very controlled environment, because he was very kind and understanding when communicating. We learned from talking to him that he has three children, one of which lives and works in Virginia as a doctor. His other two children were a lawyer and an economist.

When Kathy finally came back to Waldo's house, we had missed the flight at 10:30 that we were wait listed for, but she got us on a wait list for a flight at 7:00 P.M while she was at the airport. It was in this moment that we realized we would be in La Paz for longer than we expected. Kathy, however, was also very hospitable and took us to her home where we met her two dogs, Bailey and Cinder(short for cinderella). Bailey was a blonde lab and Cinder was a black lab. The two dogs were very vibrant and fun to be around. We sat and talked to Kathy in her living room for a few hours and learned about her life in La Paz. She grew up in Cleveland and was sent to La Paz through her home church. She leads and coordinates several Bible studies through a church that was started by another missionary family in La Paz. It was exciting to see someone from the United States who had set up a life for herself in Bolivia and was serving God to the best of her ability.

In the end, Kathy even took us out to a coffee shop and a money changer to convert our U.S dollars to Bolivian dollars. After that, we rode back up to the airport, payed for our tickets, had our bags weigh, payed the airport tax of 25 Bolivianos(approxiamtely $3.5) and went through security. Also, I should mention that we all knew we had over our weight limit in our bags, but for some reason no one made us pay for it. When we finally arrived in Cochabamba at 9:30 P.M, we were greeted by all of the other volunteers at Hospitals of Hope. At this point, we were very tired and all went to bed around 11:00 P.M.

Today, I found myself in a brand new place, feeling very disoriented and discouraged by a powerful language barrier. However, I discovered that God is most faithful when we are in those difficult places. Throughout the day, he constantly provided for my team and I in wonderful ways. We ended up getting to see a beautiful and exciting city and getting to meet one of the most servant-minded individuals I have ever met in my life. On top of all that, we did not have to pay extra for our bags, which were only over the weight limit because we were transporting clothes for orphaned children in them. Now, I am finally in Cochabamba and ready to serve. I thought that my adventure would begin here, but it will continue here, for it started in La Paz. I know from today that God will continue to be faithful while I am here and provide for me in ways that are beyond my imagination.

If you get a chance, please pray that I will have courage and be flexible while serving in Cochabamba. Also, please feel free to look up Kathy Maenner, who is serving with SIM(Serving In Missions). She is the missionary who was so kind to my team and I, and I'm sure she would appreciate your support.

That's all for now!

Kevin Quinby

La Paz