Bolivia Day 9 Blog
¡Hola Amigos y Familia! Whitney here, reporting for today, Friday, July 16. We started the morning off at 9:00 for breakfast and devotions before Ramiro came to pick us up. He took us to a church in La Paz to debrief us on how to be a shoe shiner. I am guessing that most of you do not know what a shoe shiner is, so let me explain. As one of the most shameful positions in society, shoe shiners are looked down upon by the locals and are usually associated with poverty (drugs, alcohol, etc.) Ramiro and his brother proceeded to teach us how to shine shoes properly, but that did not fully prepare us for what we were going to embark on. After dressing up in face masks, caps, gloves, etc., we were put into groups and hit the streets. I was in a group with Dave and Ramiro´s friend David. Many people looked down upon us as we sat waiting to shine shoes. The first man that came up to Dave hit him on the head with a newspaper while my first customer repeatedly told me to shine ¨con mas fuerzo y mas rapido¨(with more strength and much faster). Right after that, another man came up to us, but not to get his shoes shined, he wanted some drugs. I was taken aback until he realized that we were gringos and obviously had no drugs. We benefitted from the experience and gained empathy for those who serve others continually.
After lunch at Ramiro´s brother´s restaurant, Ramiro wanted us to go to the park with 5 kids he knows. Meagan and I enjoyed pushing a little girl on a bike and watching the other kids eat ice cream until we found out that these kids (who were all under the age of 10) were shoe shiners. It broke our hearts to know that such young children have to carry such heavy burdens when we have so much. Our eyes were opened to the tragedies that are so prevalent in Bolivia and God really moved us to glorify Him through serving those less fortunate. We ended the night walking through La Paz and looking in some shops and ate a comforting meal with the James´ and some of their friends. It´s hard to believe tomorrow is our last day here in Bolivia. God has worked in our hearts a lot this week and it will be exciting to use what we have learned back home in the states.
2 Responses to “Bolivia Day 9 Blog”
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July 16th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
Thank you for sharing….we are so blessed here in Cleveland. Thank you for sacrificing a few weeks to teach us something we will hopefully remember for years!
July 17th, 2011 at 6:23 am
Thank you for helping us to remember that we are to serve and that is not always in the capacity that we are comfortable in. We are anxiously awaiting to hear what God has taught you as a group and individually.
We are praying for safe travels as you return. Miss you Kerie!