Out to Lunch

Last Tuesday morning I heard a knocking on my entry door at about 10 am. It was my two new friends that the Lord gave me in La Paz, Bolivia, they showed up at my apartment unexpectedly. However, I was very glad to see them. I was about to go back to bed, but this was much better. After a warm greeting we sat down and talked, but Daniel, who is 26, was the only one who could speak English. However, as we talked , I looked over at Oscar, who understood everything we said by reading it on his phone. Wow, that is great  technology. I talked to Daniel about a friend he knew in Lima Peru who he thought would be able to help me when I arrived there in a month, the same way they helped me here. And asked him to send the young man my email address so we could communicate. After about an hour of talking, Oscar asked if I would like to go for a drive and then out to lunch. I said yes.  As he  drove a short distance he pointed out that this was his bravieo, Spanish for neighborhood. It was a community of red bricks and concrete among steep gray jagged hills and deep ravines with small streams flowing through some of them with a few trees among them. From this vista, we overlooked the valley of La Paz far below covered in smog, that even extended up to here and was listed as poor for your health on the news, and some people who were walking around, wore face masks. The roads were mostly dirt and rutted and some were paved in cobblestone or concrete, and there was some construction going on with a new sewer system going in, but with no safety warning of the big holes in the ground next to the road. Most of the houses were made of red bricks, some new and often quite large and several stories high. Oscar also pointed out certain businesses, schools, churches, and even the local cemetery. This was the place where God had brought me to and I am happy to be here, and to bless this community. After about a half an hour tour, we stopped at a small restaurant that was just around the corner from where I was staying. It was very busy with mostly men having their lunch. We got out of the car and found a small vacant table in the back corner and sat down. Oscar gave the lady our order and as we waited I noticed the walls had some posters of Jesus in different settings, and I concluded this place was run by a Christian woman, which Oscar then confirmed. When our meal came, it was a very large platter with a sampling of several kinds of fish, with potatoes, a large serving of rice and some noodles and a cooked half of a banana and two other vegetables. Plus there were two bowls that came, one of hot sauce and another had small crunhy deep fried fish, one of which I realised a later were whole minos, but they tasted very good. I always liked to try new foods whenever I could with friends. As we ate we were both eating off the same large platter and Oscar would tell me what the items were. When we were almost through finishing that platter, the lady brought over another one of the same which we had  been eating from plus a large bowl of a green fish broth, which I tasted, but passed. However, Oscar enjoyed it. I was really going to be stuff and I sure he was too. Oscar also got us a bottle of water and a small coke which we split, to help wash it all down. I was really enjoying this, and then the owner came over and he explained to her who I was and what I was doing here in La Paz and that I was living next door. She was very pleased and thanked me and I blessed her, and thanked Ocscar for the wonderful meal.  After we left the restaurant, we went to Oscars uncle's house where I helped him pressure wash his taxi car, then on the way back to my apartment he played worship music through his phone and on the car radio system while we drove. Then he showed me his small one room apartment unit next to mine, but it was five floors up with no elevator. There was a patio area just outside his door where there was a small shared bathroom and a washing station where Oscar said he was soaking his laundry. This was the simple life of the wonderful man that God brought into my life. I was tired and told Oscar that I need to go and take a nap and I thanked him for a wonderful day. God is so very Good