June 23, 2008

Cultural Tidbits
As in the up-date from last week, I'll share a little with you about what life is like in the Bolivian culture...particularly Santa Cruz. The two themes I thought I'd share with you today are traffic and weddings (not because I have any big news to share...but because I went to a wedding this weekend and saw many differences).

Traffic
Driving in Santa Cruz is crazy, as you can imagine if you've ever been to a Latin American country. Here are a few tips that I have picked up:
1. Basically the bigger vehicle has the right of way and micros (buses) always win, they own the road.
2. Traffic lights don't always mean what they say...so if everyone else is going, just follow along.
3. Don't make eye contact with police officers on the side of the road or you're more likely to get pulled over.
4. Don't bother trying to look for painted lines to show the division of lanes on the road...no one pays any attention to them (therefore, 2 painted lanes becomes 4 as far as traffic is concerned, the lanes are crooked when they are painted, but most people drive straight so if you follow the crooked lane you'll get hit).
5. Watch out for speed bumps...they're everywhere, huge, and aren't always marked!

Weddings
Last Saturday night I went with my friend Lidia (the woman I lived with when I was here before) and her boys to a wedding. The groom is actually the boys' half brother, because they have the same father. This was definitely considered an upper class wedding, so I'm only going to speak about it from that standpoint. It was also a Catholic wedding, but I'm going to focus on the cultural differences as opposed to religious differences. There were two ceremonies, a religious ceremony and a civil ceremony. The religious ceremony was held at the church. It was supposed to start at 8:00pm...we got there at 8:15 and people were leaving...just to find out it was because the church had a couple of weddings back to back, so we waited until the first wedding party left then we went in, at about 8:30. Within 5 minutes the bride was walking down the isle...no attendants on either side. There were ring bearers and flower girls, but that was it. The bride and groom sat on stools or chairs in front of the priest. The civil ceremony was performed by a lawyer at the place where the reception was held. I am told that sometimes the civil ceremony is performed in the morning with only the family. Both ceremonies contained a part in which marriage certificate was signed by bride, groom, and witnesses. I am told it is a big honor to be chosen to sign as a witness; both bride and groom each get to choose one person. By the time both ceremonies were over it was about 10:30. There was some dancing and congratulating the bride and groom with a toast, then we were served dinner at 11:00pm or so. Dinner was steak, sliced chicken, some kind of crepe wrapped around a cream sauce, au gratin potatoes, one piece of broccoli , one carrot, and some sliced palm heart. After that there was more dancing and drinking (this part would have been left out of an evangelical wedding). The bride and groom went to each table so that they could have their picture made with each group of people and speak to them briefly. Around 12:30 cake and ice cream were served, but there wasn't an official cutting of the cake like is done in the states. Lidia and I left about 1:15am as the bride was throwing the bouquet. I spoke to another friend of mine the next day who was also there and he said he left at about 2:00am...I believe people were still dancing and drinking! There are two other parts that I didn't mention...one was the importance of dressing up for a wedding, particularly this one since it was upper class. Men wore a suit and tie, women wore prom style or bridesmaid style dresses. Most went and got their hair and nails done during the day...remember that this would be anyone attending the wedding...not just the wedding party! It was extremely cold on Saturday night so many people wore fur wraps and things...I kept my coat on all night. The other interesting part about this wedding was that because both the bride and the groom are well-known in this society...several different television stations were present for the whole thing. It was entertaining to watch people interacting with the camera crew.


Ministry News
I do want to touch briefly on a couple of things that happened this week as far as ministry is concerned. Each Monday night I have the privilege of teaching in English in CIET, the Bible Institute. So far I have 5 or 6 primary students who are coming regularly. They are eager to learn and I enjoy the time I have with them. I open each class by praying with them in English. Other than the material in their text books, they are also interested in learning songs in English so we are working on two, one for adults and one for children (Lord I Lift Your Name on High and Jesus Loves Me). Also, on Saturday afternoons my church has an activity for children from 4:00-5:00, "La Hora Feliz", "Happy Hour". All adults who can help are divided into teams so that there is a once a month rotation. I joined the team working this past Saturday and organized the games. Typically, we have anywhere from 40 to 50 kids from the neighborhood. Because of the cold this weekend, our numbers were smaller, but by halfway through we probably had close to 30, which is still a pretty good number. The kids have been learning the story of Esther, which we finished teaching them this past weekend. Finally, about once a month my church has an evangelistic activity in which all are encouraged to invite friends and neighbors. This month, yesterday, we served coffee, hot chocolate, and refreshments. Jeff HAuse shared the gospel and we also sang a couple of songs and handed out some tracts. Again, due to the colder weather, there were not as many there have been in the past...but it was still a pretty good turnout. I saw at least 10 people that I didn't recognize or that I haven't seen in awhile. Well, I guess I have made this entry long enough...maybe some of you had to read it in segments or something, sorry about that! I have also tried to attach a few pictures to this entry, but I'm not having much success today so I will try to send them out in an email instead. If you don't already receive my emails, but would like to, please write and let me know (boycelj@yahoo.com). Thank you so much for your faithfulness to our Lord and your love for me!