Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Mataburros and other repairs

It is always a challenge to return to Bolivia after being away. It seems that things magically fall apart in our absence. Tires go flat, light bulbs burn out, dogs get tick infestations, etc. So... I always want to get back to the ministry, but the circumstances require me to do general "tech support" around the house.

On Monday Jeanie and Andrew came home complaining about a thumping sound in the little car. Turns out the mataburros (burro killer-sort of an additional superbumper) on the front of the car came loose and needed to be welded back in place on one side. We have a neighbor, Freddy, who is now doing body work in his yard, so I decided to ask him to take a look. (This is the same Freddy whose cow died in the field across from our house some time back. He has broadened his professional interests since then.)

Anyway, getting to and from his yard is an experience. You have to walk through the barnyard of vacant lots to get there: mean dogs, pigs, lambs, goats and lots of Freddy's relatives. They mostly speak Quechua, though Freddy and his father-in-law do Ok in Spanish as well. It has been fun to get to know them. Freddy has an arc welder and sent me on the way with a repaired mataburros in a couple of hours.

I am going to go back and offer them the Quechua version of the JESUS Film on DVD. Maybe we can watch it together. Pray that God will touch their hearts.

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