Our Crate is Here!

One of the great benefits our mission offers us is the option to send a crate of our stuff from the U.S. to our new overseas home. Over two years ago we carefully packed, labeled, and obsessed over our stuff. The allowance was judged by size, not weight, so we put the heaviest things in there: mostly tools, books, and dishes. When we took the boxes to the crating company, the trailer was so heavy that it broke the hitch!

We were in Peru and Ecuador for a while before coming to Bolivia and then we had to wait until we had our residential visas before requesting that our crate be shipped. With all of the political problems going on in Bolivia and considering how long it took to get our visas, I told myself we might never get our stuff. But that didn’t keep me from stubbornly holding out on buying things that I knew were in there. For example, I have gone over two years without a mixer in a place where cooking from scratch is a daily event. I’m now going to have to find another way to exercise my arms. Our temporary spoons and measuring cups (which are surprisingly hard to find here) have broken but I held out. Trent didn’t buy tools that he needed because he had a ton (literally) in the crate. I just need this or that, we would say. “It’s in the crate,” became our mantra.

So, after over two years of not seeing our stuff, our crate showed up at our door! We were so surprised and excited to see that everything was exactly the way we packed it. We made a huge mess like it was Christmas morning. I had all of my clothes and shoes strung out all over the floor and Trent immediately restrung his guitar and started playing it. It was so fun. 

I took some pictures but something weird is going on with our camera cord. Maybe we can post those later.

Thanks to all of you from Martindale Baptist who hid cards and letters inside of the boxes. We are slowly finding them and they are so encouraging to read. What a great surprise!