Esther in Bolivia
On Christmas Eve 2005 Esther packed her bags and went off to Bolivia.
She had always wanted to do something exciting on a gap year project and Youth With A Mission (or YWAM) provided her with the opportunity. Having worked and saved hard to raise the necessary funds she found herself on a flight that would take her via Miami to Santa Cruz Where they stayed for five weeks to work with a local church. taking part in a children's mission was Esther's first experience of a South American cultre and she loved the differences she saw. It was a very youth dominated society where most of the members of the church were under 20. From there she and the team travelled to an obscure church in a rural area of the Andes.
But this was no whim. Esther's Bolivian adventure began with six weeks of YWAM training where she was taught about the culture and spent time studying the Bible. Amongst the the challenges were the beds. Nine girls crammed into a room sleeping on triple decker bunks which caused Esther great amusement. But such was her character that without complaining she simply adapted to the cramped conditions and drank in the Bible teaching she was being given.
Living conditions in Bolivia were actually even more primitive that the triple bunks. Each of the team slept on a pair of pews that had been turned to face each other. But someone miscounted, and the team found themselves one pew short so Esther, without complaining, slept on a single pew for the five weeks the team were ministering in the church. Every night the beds were put out and every morning they were put away again.
It thrilled Esther to be able to work with children whose lives were not packed with amusements and expense. Their play was imaginative and their interest, even hunger, for the message of Jesus was something which left a lasting impression on her.
One of the personal challenges Esther faced was being asked to preach. With characteristic care and precision she worked through every sentence of her talk and found that she could easily communicate the message she felt God had given her.
Dietary challenges were to be found almost every day. The soup, nicknamed 'death bone soup' by some of the team, consisted of stewed bones laced with vegetables, herbs and spices. It was then served with one of the bones as a compliment to add interest to the dish. Esther said this green brew, while looking appauling, actually was quite palatable and she even recorded the event for posterity (and for you) on her camera.
So just to show what western food was like they decded they would introduce the locals to a great Italian delicacy - pizza. Made out of the local ingredients with a recipe that was hotch-potch of all the team's mother's favouites they came up with trays of pizza which the children devoured with glee.
