“Un poco de todo”

Here in Bolivia when you say, “Un poco de todo” it means: a little bit of everything, usually in reference to a friendly chat with someone. This blog entry has a little bit of everything. I have often thought of doing a whole entry in Spanish to see what kind of response I would get; maybe sometime, not today.

(First topic)
Home school

Home schooling your children is a very foreign concept here. It is met with varied responses, as is surely the case in any country. I have to be wise when answering inquiries about the nature of the way we are educating our children. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit; that He guides me in both pleasant and uncomfortable encounters. The funniest argument that I have heard here in Bolivia (pro-public education) is that the principal reason I should put my kids in a normal school is so that they can learn the traditional dances of the country. That was the best he could do! I chuckled. Some people are indifferent, others rude, others confused, others critical, others try to act like they understand, others think it is a great thing. As for me, the reason I do it is because I have peace that it is what I am supposed to be doing right now.

(New topic)
Relevant Jesus

We were out to dinner with a few couples from church. Out of the blue the discussion abruptly went to the new people who were coming to church. The church building is located next to a market. Usually lower class people work in the market. So the parents who work Sunday morning send their kids to Sunday school at our church. It was fine, actually fabulous, to us. But there were some people concerned about the influence that “those” kids were having on their own. The parents we were dining with were concerned about hygiene, language and social standards. First I expressed to them that it is the parent’s responsibility to train their child for brushes with influences from the world. Those coming not only from the people at church but also at school, on the TV and in the movies they watch and finally with family and friends. Then I tried a different approach. I explained some of the habits that Jesus had in His everyday life. He spent considerable amounts of time with what some might describe as the dregs of society. Yet did not close him self off with “those” kind of people, rather also spent time with dignitaries. Actually, He had a very well rounded social life, if you might call it that. The husband then looked for a rebuttal. Here is what he came up with, “But times are different now than the time when Jesus was here on earth.” Ah, now I see where we are at! The relevancy issue. To this man Jesus is a historical figure, a story book character, if you will. He does not believe that Jesus has a lick of relevancy in our culture and age. The rest of the group got bored and the subject changed. All the couples who were there at the dinner are still coming to church. I appreciate it when people are honest about where they are at and feel close enough to us to be candid. It helps us to know where some of the others may be at. I think that people haven’t changed as much as this man thinks. I believe, actually I know, that Jesus has relevancy to every person in every time. I just think that there has been a false presentation of the true person of Jesus thus some people have felt inclined to relegate Him to just another good guy in the history books. May there be an awakening and a shaking to drive us far from that!

(Another new topic)
Shopping
In our house I do the market shopping and my husband does the supermarket shopping. It works well for us. My man is a super shopper. I am more of the go-get-it-and-leave-as--fast-as-you-can kind of gal. But yesterday my husband traveled to Chile; he will be back tomorrow. So some things were running out at the house and I had to get out there and brave those long aisles and push that big clunky cart around and get what I could. After about a half an hour of looking at price tags and labels my mind starts to get all muddled, I get very bored and a bit overwhelmed. I usually stop at about the frozen foods section considering the option of abandoning the cart and making a break for the door never to come back again. As I am frozen in the frozen foods section, deep from within me comes this voice, “You can do it! Just go to the check out.” So I put one foot in front of the other and make a fuzzy push to the cashier. Finally I am through with the ordeal. Yeah Angie! So later on tonight I get on the webcam with my husband who is in Santiago. I proudly tell him that I went shopping, and that I spent almost $50. He laughs! (I knew he would, it is the joke here at the Washington house when I do the shopping.) He said, “Good that will last us for about 2 days!” Ha! At any rate the kids will have milk for their Zucaritas tomorrow morning and the cupboards won’t be bare when we welcome home our man.