This morning was extremely quiet… You could hear the birds chirping happily outside… No traffic…  Peaceful…  Hmm…   …a deceiving calm…  Our country of Bolivia is in turmoil right now… and today most of the country decided to go on “strike” as a measure of resistance against what is happening.   …so today there is no traffic… no business…  everyone stays at home… “peace”!!!

A “nice” day for me…  A day to sleep in a little bit… relax a little bit… get caught up on lots of little things… …a “nice” day…

But what about the people who live from day to day????  …depending on what they sell each day to feed their children…  What are they going to eat today???  For them, today isn’t a “nice” day… it’s a day where their stomach is in knots… not only from hunger but from the worry of how they are going to make ends meet…

Food prices have steadily been increasing over the last months… while the value of the American dollar has been steadily decreasing… Wages have stayed the same… Now you can only get 3 little breads for a boliviano - it used to be 5 or 6.   (The exchange used to be 8.05 bolivianos to the dollar… it is  officially down to 7.73, practically it is 7.5 or 7.6)…   The “cheap” oil people used to buy in bulk for 5 or 6 the liter is now 11…  Rice, a staple for the low land people, has shot up from 4 bolivianos a kilo to 10 and 11… Meat has become a luxury to eat… and chicken prices are rising as well…

People at El Jordan – students and volunteers alike – are struggling…  …especially those with larger families…  We started a class at El Jordan on how to prepare food from soy beans… It has great nutrition – still relatively cheap – 3.50 a kilo (although it’s going up too)… and it is so versatile.    The girls are learning how from one kilo of soy beans, they can make 5 liters of milk… and have the left over “meat” to make cookies, hamburgers etc…  Most of our girls don’t have blenders to grind the soy… but they can soak their beans at home and bring them to El Jordan to grind.  (I just hope our blender holds up!!!).  Someone donated a 100 pounds of soy that we’re giving that out to everyone in the soy class… to encourage them to put it into practice…

In the midst of this social and economical turmoil, I started getting worried about our “Christmas on the Streets” project.  The realistic, practical side of me was working overtime…  Plantains… they used to be 5 or 6 bolivianos a STALK… now they are that much for a DOZEN…  …and we need HOW MANY to feed 4000, 4,500 people?  That would be 375 dozen…  multiplied by 5… 1875 bolivianos!!!  Yikes!!!! … $200 more than last year…  Rice… used to be 110 or 115 for a hundred pounds… we need 1000… but now it is up to 290 bs….  Doing the math… we need 2900 bs!  My mind kept whirling… chicken… pork… potatoes… dishes…  Gifts, candies and cookies for the gift bags… That’s another expense I didn’t even want to think about…

I began to wonder whether maybe we should cut back this year…  We depend on donations and volunteers to make the meal… if so many people are struggling in their own lives… how was it all going to work for them to give even more than last year?

But… parallel to these thoughts, the other side of me balanced me out… reminding me that BECAUSE of the economic situation, our  Christmas on the Streets (and to the Extreme Poor) was even MORE necessary.  If “regular” people were struggling with food bills… what about the poor people?  …what about the “extreme poor” whose food supply was already scarce?  …those people who live in extreme conditions – families living under plastic, cardboard or tin… This Christmas could be an excellent opportunity for churches to reach out to these needy people around them… giving a message of Christ’s love, not only in words but with a great Christmas meal and gift…

At about the same time this was going through my head, I received the following letter… I’ve asked permission to share it with you because it touched my heart, and renewed by energy to move ahead with plans for “Christmas on the Streets”…

“Just wanted to touch base with you about  “Christmas on the Streets”.  I know it is quite a ways off but surely things are to some sort of planning stage by now.  I just wanted to know how I might be of service. I sent your friend that is coming down there the Chick tracts so that should be covered. 

The reason for my concern, I don't know if I might not have already told you this, is that when we were in Santa Cruz my wife and I went to eat some chicken at King Kong restaurant late one evening.  We had just about finished eating all we wanted and there was still quite a bit of rice and yuca left when two little girls came in.  One was about 7 or 8 and the other about 12.  They were going from table to table asking the patrons for their leftovers.  Quite naturally when the youngest girl came to our table I told her to take all that was left.

She quickly looked around to where her older sister was to see if she was watching and seeing that she was not, she quickly grabbed two hands full of the rice and stuffed it into her mouth because of her hunger.  I just sat there shocked.  She quickly scooped the rest into the folds of her skirt, I assume to take to the rest of her family.  The thing that came to me shortly after we left the restaurant was that I could easily have afforded to buy a full dinner for her and all the members of her family.  They being so poor that they were begging food means they were probably living under one of the bridges or out in the streets somewhere and I could have afforded to some tarps to fix a place to keep out of the rain and other things to probably help this poor family out.

I have never been able to get the image of that poor child stuffing that dry rice into her mouth, nor get over the guilt of not doing more to help.  So, if there is any way I can help from this end financially with “Christmas on the Streets” please let me know.  It won't help with the image of that little girl but maybe someone will at least go to bed with a full stomach that one night.  Thank you for all you do for those no one cares about and God bless.  Bro. Bob Applegate”

(Thanks again Bob!!!)

So… here we are… in the midst of our planning for “Christmas on the Streets”!!!   This past week we had good participation in our first meeting with the churches who are committed to be involved…  Their excitement was obvious… which encouraged me even more…  As we evaluated last year it was heartening to see long term results (kids clubs, church attendance, etc) that have grown out of sharing with the needy.  We have some good ideas to better our coordination and service… and I think this year is going to be better than ever!!   We haven’t marked all the places on our map of the city yet… but looking over the list, we are touching spots, literally, all over the city - in the garbage dumps, to the people in live in the woods by the river, the people in the holding cells of the police stations, to the pockets of people who live on certain corners washing cars, street kids, poor kids, addicts and many more…  Wow…

We discussed the ingredients we needed… and from these local congregations, we have already been promised:

- 400 or 500 pounds of rice

- 575 pounds of potatoes

- Lunch for all of our helpers on Christmas day

- plus others have said they are going to bring money although we don’t know how much yet…

We discussed the expense of our gift bags…  One suggestion was to only give them to the kids… but I disgreed… I have seen grown people, thrilled, eyes shiny with excitement, unwrapping their tiny present.  It is something so special to them…just as much or more than the food…  I can’t imagine taking it away from them…   They are just people who maybe never had the opportunity to “be a kid” before… or  who maybe never opened a present before… …so, we decided, even if our bags have to be a bit smaller, we will give a gift bag to everyone…  The churches need to be bringing in, not only help with the meal, but candies etc for the gift bags…

Anyhow… that’s where we’re at with the Christmas activities...  My sister and her family are coming to help us this year too… and taking “Christmas”  to a small pocket of street people (14 people – 4 families) we never knew about before…

Please be praying… for the country of Bolivia… for the material needs of our students and so many others in this city… and for our preparations of “Christmas on the Streets”…

Thanks... for letting me share this “nice” day with you!!!

Have a great day…

Love, Corina