THE CANNY CHRONICLES

This blog was started a little over a year ago as I (Bryan) sat on the couch in Gordon and Niki Elliott's living room in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and started to journal my experiences from my first trip out of the United States. We have certainly come full circle as I am writing this new post from the exact same cushion on the exact same couch in the exact same house in the exact same city. There is one key difference between then and now. I am no longer chronicling a tourist visit, but now posting updates as a career missionary with the plan to live here for a few years rather than just a few weeks.  TOP 5 Initial Adjustments to living in Bolivia 1. HEAT . As Gordon told one of the Bolivian pastors when he commented on how much I was sweating, "Iowa es muy frio" (Iowa is very cold). I am also the only red head I have seen here so far. Red head = fair skin. PTL for sunscreen. 2. LANGUAGE. We will be starting Spanish studies with a tutor in just a few weeks after Easte...

Fun fact : This post is about our time down south in South Carolina and GEORGIA and this font is called GEORGIA. Hmm...I hope I don't cause a tear in the space time continuum.  Molly at the coast in Charleston We rejoice in the unique experiences we have had on this deputation. We have not only had the privilege to meet many great people across the Evangelical Denomination, but also to see a lot of interesting and fun places along the way. One of those fun places was Charleston, South Carolina. Molly and I were invited to the South Eastern Conference Pastors and wives retreat. Neither one of us had spent much time in the south and we had a great introduction to that part of our great country. We are seriously thinking about hiring Lynda Eckhardt as our own personal travel agent.  We saw a lot of historical Charleston such as Fort Sumter (where the Civil War began), the historic Provost Dungeon where Pirates were once held captive, and we even were in some buildings that...

Goshen Evangelical Church I was single for 25 years before I met and married my bride, Molly. That is a quarter of a century being defined by being alone. You would think that being or doing something for that long would make that existence somewhat comfortable. So why is it that when I was given a weekend alone, while Molly was at East Central Conference Women's Retreat, I had no idea what to do with myself? I felt utterly UNcomfortable. I played my guitar a little and caught up on a little reading, but at one point I found myself sitting and staring at a spot on the wall and realized I wasn't quite sure how long I had been staring. What had defined me for 25 years was no longer comfortable. I am now defined by what has been the norm for the past 10 months. One existing as one is not even close to as good as two existing as one.  When Sunday morning of that weekend came, I knew I would be speaking alone at Goshen Evangelical Church. I had grown comfortable sharing togeth...