Getting to Know Trinidad

I usually love traveling for work or pleasure, but this week traveling meant leaving my little Ange for the first time overnight, and on Día del Niño at that! But, other than getting a little sick, probably from lack of rest due to the school-night sleepover, she did well, and I had a great trip too. A little absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Coalson Lacey is a Texan vet with thoughts of serving with VetRed here in Bolivia longterm, specifically in the small city of Trinidad. Trinidad is the capital of Bolivia's department the Beni, an 8 hour-ish car ride, or 1 hour flight, Northwest of Santa Cruz. So, to help him solidify his ideas about God's plans for his life, Coalson's been visiting us here in Bolivia for about 10 days, very generously doing whatever's been requested of him by us, the veterinary school in Santa Cruz, or the university in Trinidad.

Requests as wide ranging as couriering down a portable isoflurane machine from the US, giving a lecture on shock to hundreds of students and professors at a veterinary conference, training the Trinidad students in small animal surgery, training the veterinarians in treating an equine foot abscess, giving a semi-spontaneous sermon at a church service, and castrating whatever large or small animals the Trinidad professors could wrangle up. Much of this while being recorded for the local university cable channel and closed-circuit TV for the students who wouldn't fit into the surgical suite.

He's held up amazingly well under the pressure of the film crew, large audiences, and the language barrier, even when he had to improvise on the spot or reach back 4-5 years in his memory for the last time he'd thought about the procedure asked of him. The cool thing about Coalson seems to be that he can do all these things not because of his own skill or expertise, but out of his reliance on God. As you might hear him say if you ask him to do something seemingly crazy or at least outside his comfort zone, "Nothing is impossible with God." An attitude I hope rubs off on me more when Coalson comes to join our team serving in a similarly hot, sticky, mosquito-filled tropical region of Bolivia. Don't worry Coalson, even surviving Dengue Fever is possible through Christ who strengthens us.

(I also want to recognize the sacrifice my co-workers Bill and David have made to leave their families for a week and show Coalson the beauty of Bolivia. Bill is now stuck in Trinidad indefinitely because of blockades preventing him from driving his car back home to SC. I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers.)