Wow, has it really been 2 weeks since we posted last? I guess that is a sign that things are getting to feel so normal that we don't feel like there has been anything special to talk about. And we have had a pretty busy past couple weeks. So what has been going on? Well, last weekend Ann had the "Friendship Games" at school, where her school got destoyed by all the other schools there in the volleyball and soccer tournaments. But she got Monday off for working Saturday and we took a little trip out of the city to Angostura, which is a huge lake everyone here goes to to eat fresh fish. We met a couple there that Ann knew from Bryan that is working here for a year with some mission and we sat on a floating dock and ate fried fish. It was good, but I'm not sure why everyone in Cochabamba thinks that sitting on a filthy lake and eating little fried fish that taste just like fried fish is anything special. It was pretty though I guess and it was good to get out of the traffic for an afternoon. Wednesday I was invited to help out with a demonstration on my university campus with the CCU, which is the Bolivian branch of Intervarsity. We did an interactive thing on sex and sexuality and feelings, with multiple booths doing things on HIV/AIDS, talking about sex in our culture, and other stuff. I got put in the "Emotional Counselling" booth because I was the same age as most of the college students and married so they thought I should have some experience. I don't know what they were thinking, but it actually turned out to be a great experience. Just having a little sign out saying that I was open to talkto people about their emotions and love life, it was amazing to see how many people responded. I was talking to people from 10:30 until 4pm. It shows how much of a need there is in the young people here to love and be loved and how many people are searching. But we got to help some (I hope) and many people were interested in following up and seeing what CCU was all about. We even got to share some of the gospel with some people.
Other than that, Ann has been doing her school thing and I have too. I've been learing all about the Andean worldview and religiosity, mostly of the Aymara people. I think we have covered evey single spirit, every rite and custom, and every point of their worldview possible. It has actually been really cool. I think this is the first time I've ever looked so in depth into another religion/worldview before. I think it has shown me that we Christians should get to know people of other faith and what they believe in order to better follow our own faith. How can I say I reject something that I don't know? It's like a kid who says she doesn't like broccoli until she tries it. I'm not saying we all need to go out and try other religions. But I do think that we need to recognize that God is present everywhere and I think that there can be elements of truth in other worldviews that we can learn from. They may not be the Truth, but we cannot think that God is not there. We Christians do not bring God to people who do not know the Word. We help to reveal the true God to them and part of that is showing them that he has always been there.
The way the Aymaras live and act is sometimes very challenging to me and I feel like we have a lot to learn from the indigenous people of the world really. But that is another post for some other time.