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Hey family and friends,

What's up? I hope all is well in your lives. I hope that many of you have been able to share my experiences through this little online journal thing. It would be nice to hear from some of you once in a while. This can be a very simple task in the form of a blog entry comment. Simply click on comments to send me a quick greeting. Maybe, then, I can be confident that people are actually reading my blogs... and therefore, I might find the motivation I need to update my blogs more often. Now, some of you may be under the impression that you need to create your own BLOGGER profile in order to leave a comment. That is in fact not the case. All you need to do is leave an anonymous comment... and sign you name within your comment. View the first comment made on this entry as an example. I hope that helps, and I hope to read many wonderful comments in the very near future. Chao, chao.

Love, love,
ALi

Happy Birthday Freddy!

On March 18th, Freddy turned 28 years old. Freddy is one of the shoe shiner guys that we hang out with. For his birthday I made him a cake and we celebrated at lunch after basketball practice with all of the guys. He's a great guy and really acts like a father figure to the others. He really appreciated the birthday surprise. It was great to see him smile, something that we haven't seen in a while. Freddy is going through a very difficult time right now. He has a wife and two kids. Just recently he and his wife separated because she had been cheating on him with his brother, for several years. Freddy is truly heart broken. He has such a big heart and loves his kids so much that he is willing to work through these struggles in order to stay in the lives of his children. Keep my new friend Freddy in your prayers.

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

Last Saturday, the international school where Randy and Jon coach basketball sponsored a huge fundraising event. The event was an authentic BDAB dodgeball tournament! All six of us YFC missionaries formed a team. We were known as "The Mechanics". One of our team mottos is as follows, "when you're serious about something funny, it's even funnier." We were quite successful in living out our motto in this particular case. Our team was complete with uniforms, plays, warm-ups, fans, and cheers. It was quite a sight. The tournament was organized in a round robin fashion, consisting of two pools of six teams. Each team would play 5 games within their pool and then be seeded for the single elimination tournament. We went out for our first game and got clobbered by 'Elder Force'. Man, it was pretty disappointing for us... especially since we had put so much into our team. And the audience definately let us have it for losing our first game to a much of middle-aged parents. Welp, after our first game we were able to adjust our strategy and really get our heads in the game. We won the next 4 games straight, taking us into the tournament with confidence and the second seed position. In the tournment we had some tough games... but managed to battle our way into the final championship game. The game just happened to be against some really great friends of ours from a small international school in the city, including the father of the family that lives in the bottom of Randy's house. These guys were by far our toughest competition! Going into the finals, we were expecting a one game match... but it turned out to be a best out of three situation.... thankfully. We lost our first game to 'Very Bueno' in a tough match. Then we switched sides, regrouped and played the next game. We were victorious in this match-up, earning the chance to continue in the tournament. The final game was crazy, and super intense. (We totally could have been in the movie next to Ben Stiller and rest of 'em.) After about 3 minutes of play, Ross Boone made an incredible throw towards their last surviving competitor. It was aimed right at his chest... he made a valiant effort to catch the ball and bring another teammate back into play... but the ball brought too much heat... bounced off his chest... and onto the ground! The Mechanics are victorious!!!! The crowd was so fired up for the entire last game and as soon as the final ball hit the ground, the fans rushed from the stands to celebrate with their team. All were invited to take part in one final cheer for the mechanics, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!"

CARNIVALES!

Here in Bolivia it is tradition to celebrate a holiday called Carnivales. Now, the concept is similar to that of Mardi Gras in the States. It's celebrated the week before Lent begins and mostly serves as an excuse to go crazy before the strictness of Lent. Of course there is the usual partying and crazyness... but Bolivia takes it to another, very different level as well. This takes the form of a week-long, nationwide water fight! I really don't think I could accuately portray this event to you through words. It's something you definately have to experience to believe. Everyone travels the streets packing some serious heat. Some travel armed solely as a form of defense, but others travel well equipped to start a water war where ever they go. Now of course with any game, there are some general rules and regulations. Number 1 - Everyone is fair game EXCEPT old women and very small children... that is of course UNLESS they are carrying any form of ammo. Number 2 - All tourists and gringos are worth 3 points. Number 3 - All girls are especially targeted whether they are armed or not. Number 4 - Couples acting in a romatic matter will be shown NO mercy. Number 5 - No one can be trusted!
This event is quite serious. I was sufficiently wet for the majority of the week. I had witnessed some pretty intense stuff through the course of the week... but had chosen to avoid getting involved in any crazy wars. But... realizing that I would only be here once to experience this unique celebration, I decided to take part in a very serious battle on the last day of Carnivales. Ross, Rolando, and caught transportation down to the southern zone of the city to meet up with Jon. Jon was the veteran of the water balloons scene, especially in the southern zone. What happens is people gather on opposite sides of the main street and just unlease on eachother. Now, to throw a water balloon across 4 lanes of traffic, you gotta have some skill. Also, the balloon are unlike any others I've seen. They are only filled to about golf ball size and then tied incredibly tight. This allows for optimal distance, accuracy, and damage. In the heat of the battle, I was mostly standing in the back and observing the war... but casualties are inevitable in this environment. Although I realized what was about to happen, it all happened to fast for me to react in time. Just as a bus drove by, I saw the wind up. As soon as the bus passed, I saw a balloon headed right for me at about 70 mph. I could do nothing but anticipate the pain that would soon be felt. Within nanoseconds the balloon made impact with my stomach, creating a loud noise for all to hear. Everyone around turned to me in shock realizing the force of the blow. I keeled over in agony and wobbled behind a sign to take cover. The pain was pretty extreme and I would have a nice red welt on my stomach for the next 3 days! The Carnivales experience was definately crazy... but one that I'm glad I took part in.