THE CANNY CHRONICLES

This week I learned more about tortoises than I had anticipated. For instance, the plural of tortoise really is tortoises and not torti like I originally thought. There are some different answers floating around the web as to what the proper name is for a group of tortoises. A group of turtles is called a "bale" and some say this goes for tortoises as well. Other answers were a "herd" or "fleet". My personal favorite was, "a creep" or tortoises, named such for their slow movement. Listed below are some other interesting facts about these reptiles.  The key differences between Tortoises and Turtles Yellow Spotted South American Tortoise You may be wondering, "Why the sudden fascination with tortoises?", and I will tell you. This past week, Molly and I took a few days away from the city for our one year anniversary. It was a good time to get away and reflect on all of God's blessings over the past year. The place we stayed at ha...

We are fortunate enough to have several fruit trees in our yard. The unfortunate part is that Molly isn’t a big fan of citrus or tropical fruits. I love fruits of all kinds but, being from Iowa, I know absolutely nothing about the growing process of the fruits in our yard. All I know about these fruits, I have learned by observation. I found out that a papaya starts out as a bud, turns into a flower, then from the middle of the flower sprouts a small green fruit that grows and grows and one day fully ripens and turns orange. This is a fascinating process to behold, but it takes a long time and papaya flavor is kind of hit or miss. It is either incredibly refreshing or it tastes like feet. Along with papaya, we also have bananas, a mango tree, and up until this past week I thought we had two orange trees. One morning, this past week, I went outside and looked under our two orange trees. I saw that under each tree were a few green spheres. I went over to gather the fruit and bring ...

As usual I’m a little bit behind with keeping our blog up to date. There has been so much going on in our lives since getting to Bolivia. The first few days here we “hit the ground running” as our field director, Gordon Elliott, promised we would. Gordon was a great help to us in running us all over the city to different offices for everything from blood tests to finger printing and all the seemingly endless paperwork involved with moving to another country. We had to get everything in process right away and Gordon wanted to help us while he could because he took a visit to the states just a few days after Easter to attend his son’s college graduation and will return May 19 or 20th. You can read all of Gordon’s updates at his blog “Ch’airo for the Soul”. The link is in our “Blogs to Check Out” section in the right hand margin. Aside from paperwork and unpacking/settling into our house, we also joined our fellow missionaries in La Paz for the Bolivian Easter Junta (celebration). You ...

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...

Ligonier Evangelical Church Ligonier, IN Rev. Troy Diersing is the son in law of our former Executive Director of Evangelical Church Missions, Duane Erickson. Molly had the chance to meet Troy and his wife Gloria about a year ago when they were serving in Shiloh, Ohio. Troy and Gloria are now serving the Ligonier Evangelical Church and there is another big change from a year ago. They have a beautiful new baby boy. I didn’t get the chance to hold the little guy, but Molly did for just a few brief minutes. Babies are so busy at that age with all the eating, sleeping and well… what happens after they eat. It is quite a tough life isn’t it? Babies are such good reminders for us of God’s love. He looks after our every need and stands at the ready for whenever we let out a cry. Often times God looks after us through the care of His loving people. We have felt so well taken care of during this whole deputation. Everywhere we go we are welcomed with open arms and people go far and above ...