Much Better

Thank you for all your prayers. Last week I was able to teach all 5 days without missing a thing. I feel much better and am regaining energy by the day. The jaundice has almost completely faded, and I feel almost normal. This weekend I plan on making it back into the Mountains to start planning for the next few trips with the students.

On Saturday I moved back up to El Alto (my life is easily moved from one place to another with only one bag). I'm living with a guy named Wes who works for Word Made Flesh.

Hasta Luego

here it is....

here is a pic of my yellow eyes, now that the jaundice is fading. They were REALLY yellow last week, but I never got a picture of it.

Right now I'm on the recovery. I feel much better and finally have an appetite, so I have a lot of work to do in order to get the 30 pounds that I lost back.

I went back to school yesterday, and have been able to make it through both days without too much pain. Last week I tried to go to school and never made it longer than a couple of hours. Plus I don't think that the students were enjoying my looks very much. LJ, an eight grader, was talking to me and in the middle of her sentence said, "You know, it's kind of freakin me out to talk to you with your yellow skin and yellow eyes, so I'm gonna go", and she walked away. Other comments included, "Dude, Mr. Watson, you don't look so good." and "I can't tell the difference between your hair, skin, and eyes". The comments from the younger students were even funnier because they tend not to hold anything in.

Anyways, after 10 straight days of laying in a bed and resting, I'm back up and feeling much better. Everyone is telling me that I need to continue to rest, or I could get chronic Hepatitis, so I'm still taking it easy.

Sorry I wasn't able to post more last week, but I couldn't sit up to use the computer for more than a few minutes without getting tired. Thank you all for your prayers, I could have never recovered so fast without them.

Yellow Eyes, Yellow Skin means what.....

well the word that comes to mind is Jaundice. You know, the pictures you always see in health books and science books, maybe occasionally in a National Geographic or a world news picture of sick people dying.

I am those pictures. I came down with something pretty ugly on Tuesday afternoon (I couldn't stand up straight, and my stomach was in excruciating pain), and ended up missing the rest of the week of School. After seeing 2 doctors and having 4 blood tests, 2 ultrasounds, 3 urine tests, a variety of people poking at my stomach, and seeing the white of my eyes turn yellow, it was decided that I needed an operation. Not the kind of operation where they cut you open, but the kind of operation where they stick a scope down your stomach, and then down your intestines until they find the main tube that feeds bile into your stomach from the pancreas, gall bladder, and liver. They then make a small incision to release a Gall Stone, and once again allow the flow of bile into the intestines, thus fixing the problem.

I personally didn't like this option, so on Friday I went to a 3 doctor for more tests. Actually our financial director at the school MADE me go. I was put in the hospital (if that's what you want to call it), and after a day was told that I had a very serious and advanced case of Hepatitus A. There was, and still is, very serious suspicion as to if this is the problem. Hep A does occasionally cause some abdominal pain, but with this case this is all I've had. They haven't completely ruled out Apendicitis, although I highly doubt this being the nature of how long I've had the pain. Tomorrow morning I will return for more tests.

Anyways, I am currently out of commission for a while, so maybe I can post more often. I still can't stand for more than a few minutes, my stomach is still in a lot of pain (although not as severe), and my eyes and skin are the yellowest they've been (which kind of freaks me out), but I think I'm on the road to recovery.

Stay in prayer over these next few days....

180 Hours Later, a little bit smarter.

I made it to Patagonia, and it was amazing. The whole area. I hiked for 4 days in the "Torres del Paine", which has glaciers that would stop me for hours at a time. Glacier Grey will forever stick in my mind as the most impressive site that my eyes have ever seen in the outdoors. The lakes were the same color blue that I saw at the beatiful beaches of the Carribean. A blue that doesn't make any sense at all in the middle of the mountains. So was it worth it? 180 hours of bus time, just to catch a glimpse of God's beauty and be in a place where the sun doesn't set until 11 oclock pm and rise at 4:30am. Yes, and here are just three moments that stick out.

We met a guy in the city of Osorno, Christian, that went out of his way to help us. He spent his whole day, showing us the city, and then went into the municipal courts to talk to some friends about getting us a free campsite. He didn't even know us, but he served us in unimaginable ways. It was hard at times to just let someone serve you the way he did. Sometimes I just wished he would let us go on our own, but then I realized that that was most likely my pride of not wanting to be helped and served so much. Without people who are willing to be served, what is the point of people who are willing to serve?

At Greys glacier in the Torres del Paine, Randy and I had just hiked 11kms and we came across a Brazilian couple that we got to talking to while overlooking the most amazing glacier. After learning a little bit about each other, Randy asked them a question that opened up a hour long conversation where we just sat and listened: What do you think of Americans? I learned more about that guy, Roberto, in the next hour than I have ever learned about anyone in such a short time. I have yet to meet a Brazilian that I don't like, and I have yet to meet a Brazilian that doesn't hate America. This was so exception. The guy was awesome, and he just talked and talked, while his wife sat there a little embarassed at the things he was saying so openly. By the end of the conversation (which we had to stop because we had to hike the 11km back), it had come to the point that he has lost all faith in Humanity. He told Randy and I that he only trusted 4 people at this point in his life: himself, his wife, and Randy and I. The funny thing is that all he knew about us was that we lived in La Paz and cared about Latin America, and that we both play basketball. Other than that, we just sat and listened to him, which is what so many people need. Just to be listened to, to hear there thoughts and not necessarily hear anything back.

In Arica, only 8 hours from being back in La Paz, Randy and I got asked by a bunch of High School students to play in their Rugby game on the beach. I don't know what it was about being on the beach playing a game that I didn't know very much about that was so refreshing to my soul. Maybe it was nice to call yourself Estadounidense (from the States), and not have people look down on you and even invite you to do something with them. The fact is, most people don't like Americans down here. They hate Bush, and that is usually the first thing I hear about. Most Christians here won't even believe that a Christian COULD vote for Bush. It makes no sense to them. And as soon as you tell them where you're from, it ends any type of a conversation, especailly in Bolivia. There are exceptions of course. This was one of those exceptions, and it was really good for me and my soul. Also, it turns out Randy and I are pretty good at Rugby.

So yeah, I spent 180 hours on buses. But I learned more about the cultures down here in South America. I learned more about how people think in this world. And it made me question many things about the role of the culture in which we are raised. I plan on writing more about the Brazilian couple and what they said in a future blog, but right now I'm still processing.

What is the role of the most powerful nation in the world? Obvious answers to this question don't necessarily mean obvious responses.

----In case you haven't heard, Evo Moralis just won the presidency here in Bolivia. Nobody knows what that means for Bolivia right now, or in the long run. He is the leader of the Socialistic Movement in Bolivia, so only time can tell what is in store for Bolivia. He has a very strong anti-American sentiment, and is working more closely with Chavez of Venezuela and Castro of Cuba.

----Congratulations to my bro Dave on his engagement to Nickie. I wish I could be there with you to celebrate. I am already looking forward to the wedding. Send me pictures of the ring and whatever else when you get the chance.

----A very Happy Birthday to Monica Ghali.

When I get my pictures downloaded, I will post them on the site.