… thanks to the generosity of the Women’s Missionary Society of one of our beloved churches and the heroic efforts of the Youth/College group of Canon City, CO. Our supporting churches are such a blessing to us. It goes so far beyond the needed monthly support. The love they have for us and the prayers for our success for God on the field… these blessings are a comfort and an encouragement to us and enable and empower us to do what God has called us to do in Bolivia.

But back to the blessing from the ladies and those dear young people!

After the past bloqueos (blockades) and paros (work strikes), we have been praying for a chest freezer to store up food against such times. Then the rainy season came and we discovered even MORE reasons why we need frozen storage. In the height of the rains, the crude roads (aka “highways”!) between the major cities get washed out and impassable for many days. That means that meat cannot reach Cochabamba from Santa Cruz and many fruits and veggies can’t get here from Beni and the Chapare (and other locales).

So it was an exciting day when the leader of this ladies’ group wrote me an email to find out which need was most important for our ministry. I outlined the various needs and reasons behind them in a return email. Well, those ladies met that night and voted to get our freezer!

But WAIT… the blessing gets even better! The details of the freezer were based on the research we did when we first posted the need. In the time between the point when we KNEW that we had to have a freezer, through the times of the blockades and the rainy season, by the time we went back to the store with the best deal from before, the unit that we had chosen and priced was gone!

O NO… but there were still two freezers left in town and this store had them both! They were within $20 of each other, so we went with the white (over the red freezer that looked like it needed a Coca-Cola logo!). This freezer was smaller than the one we had wanted, but was deep enough to store enough meat and meals for the family, AND it had a separate section with a retaining wall for freezer bags of blanched veggies and conserved fruit.

So, with the offerings of the WMS and the young people in CO, we had enough left over for a microwave TOO! Microwaves are getting more popular in Bolivia and our favorite grocery store was promoting microwave popcorn. So now Steven has a “treat” from time to time. We don’t have microwave popcorn very often because EACH bag of popcorn costs about $2 USD (@15 Bolivianos). But the children have been so blessed by it. It’s worth the splurge now and then, just to give the kids a little taste of “home”… yes, the microwave popcorn is American! In fact, we are able to get our favorite ActII flavor here.

Due to the washed-out roads, it has taken a bit longer to start filling up the freezer. But with the few days of “sin lluvia” (rainless days), we’ve been able to get a bit more than we need per week. With the help of a transformer and the meat slicer that another of our beloved churches got for us, we’ve been able to buy “bulk” and slice at home in leisure. It also means that I am able to cook more successfully for Steven, which has been a huge prayer request for some time!

Yesterday, the news announced a blockade for transit workers and taxi drivers, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week. — we STILL can’t get over having “scheduled spontaneous protests”! lol… –

So, armed with this news and experienced in what it meant, we went to our favorite butcher shop and stocked up as much as we could. Already many people had been to the shop and the meats were picked over. But they know me at this butcher shop and I have achieved “mamita” status with the owners and the butchers [YES! Thanks to the Lord!!!], so my favorite butcher went to the back and brought out a couple of quarters. He trimmed, sawed and sliced out the cut of meat I had asked for, and then bagged them up for me.
But… because of the FREEZER, I was able to buy enough meat and veggies to last my family though this blockade. Even if it goes longer, as can always happen, we are PREPARED for the blockade… for the washed out roads… for the political demonstrations… for whatever Bolivia can toss at us!

Right now, I have frozen veggies and fruits and sliced/bagged frozen meat, enough to last us for about a week. My goal, upon advice from other missionaries, is to have a month-long pantry/freezer. With the resources God has given us, I now see this objective as a reasonable, and REACHABLE, goal! We have shelves in the large closet for a pantry for dry goods. And we have a good-sized freezer for freezables.

So… my thanks to the wonderful women of the Women’s Missionary Society and the young people of the College & Career Class! You have filled a serious need for this wife and mom. And my family can already see the difference!

-Cyn
Cochabamba, Bolivia