Well, it only took one week. One week from the day we arrived here I came down with dengue fever. I'll spare you the details but it is kind of like the flu without the sinus part, just the fever and your bones and joints feel like they are about to shatter into a bunch of little pieces. The good news is that once better I will now be immune to that strain of dengue. The bad news is there are three more strains and if I get one of those there is an increased risk now of it becoming hemorrhagic, which could be lethal if not caught in time.

Anyways, Friday I was feeling a bit better. We had a workshop with pastors and leaders from five churches in the Los Lotes neighborhood on how to deal with and counsel violent men. This is just part of a program on domestic violence that we have been working on in the neighborhood. Our partners realized that many groups help the women and children in violent situations, but no one is helping the violent people deal with their problem too. So this group of pastors is going through this training series and beginning next month we will begin a counseling group for violent men in this neighborhood. We have an agreement with the local government that men who are arrested for domestic violence in this community can choose to go to jail or go through our counseling program with this group of pastors. More on that as we get it going in this next year. . .

Saturday I felt ok and we got up early and caught a bus to Cochabamba. For the next three weeks we get to visit with our old church and neighborhood. We are looking forward to a time of relaxing, rejuvenation, celebration with old and dear friends, and preparation for beginning our work in earnest in January. Unfortunately it seems my dengue was not quite done, and add to that the altitude and I hit the wall fast. My fever came back and I had the most painful headache I have ever had almost within a hour of arriving. So I spent the last day and a half mostly in bed, with no relief from the headache, only getting up to drink more coca tea and pee and eat a little. Ann said that last night they prayed a lot for me at church. This morning I woke up feeling much better but will take it easy still for a while.

Even in these short two days here in Cochabamba now we have had a great time with friends remembering people and places and events. Ann has told me about how much the kids are growing (which I hope to see now that I feel better). It has been a bit difficult thinking that we won't be working here. We had such an incredible experience here, not to mention the city and climate are much nicer than Santa Cruz. We have so much joy here. Since arriving it has been hard not to worry about what is coming ahead of us. Things just feel so out of control and here we can feel more in control because we know the people, the way around the city, where to go, what to do, etc. But just this morning as I was thinking about that I read something in a book by Henri Nouwen that spoke to our situation:

"We often speak about the 'good old days,' but when we think critically about them and let go of our romanticizing memories, we might soon discover that, during those very days, we were doing a lot of worrying about our future. When we trust profoundly that today is the day of the Lord and that tomorrow is safely hidden in God's love, our faces can relax, and we can smile back at the One who smiles at us."

That is so true of us. We are learning once again to let go and trust that God really does have our best interest in mind, that he has a plan for us, and that we just need to discover it one day at a time.