Bolivia: A Land of Adventures

Thursday at 12:00 I arrived at the airport in Nashville. At approximately 12:07, I realized that my mom had not brought my passport and subsequently neither had I. You may be wondering why I did not decide to get that… Well I do not really know. I simply figured my mom being the organizer of the trip, she would have brought it for me. But apparently NOT! It was ok though, my dad ran home and got it and we were on our way.

As we left Nashville, I thought to myself this trip is going to go off without a hitch. Why do I say things like that? When we arrived in Miami International Airport we had to recheck our luggage from American Eagle to AeroSur. The AeroSur counter however does not open to check bags until 7 P.M., so we had some more time to waste. When they finally did come to the counter we all checked our bags normally without any real problems. When we boarded the flight from Miami to Santa Cruz, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. For some strange reason the plane had to stop and “refuel” in Columbia. We sat on the ground for two hours in Cali, Columbia (possibly the drug capital of the world). I cannot imagine that this was just a stop for fuel, but whatever. After an unbelievably long two hours we took off.

The next part of this journey begins to get worse and worse. When we arrived in Santa Cruz customs took a little longer than we had hoped. Subsequently the group was separated between Laura and John. Laura, Makennah, Ben, Kelsey, and I went on ahead to board the plane. Little did we know that John and the others would not make it through customs in time to make the plane. So we left half of our team in a foreign city with no way to contact them. When we got to Cochabamba, we expected to only be able to get the luggage we had tags for. But we were sorely mistaken. Our luggage was left in Miami. So basically we almost lost half our group, we almost went crazy during some drug deal in Columbia, and we will not have any clothes until Sunday.

As frustrating as this may be, I have not be upset about it. Yeah, I would love some new socks, but what can be done? What Satan intends for evil, our God can turn and show his glory through. I believe that I am in the right place at the right time. My life will be changed by this trip. Mark my words, “I will be a better Christian because of the trials I conquer.

Check back tomorrow for more posts.