Reflection on this Week

This is Robert posting. As a teenager, Bolivia has affected me differently than most of the adults. When the water well team arrived in the villiage I realized how much we really have. The villiage consisted of a few small houses with roofs made of palm branches and straw and if they had walls (which few did) they were made of either tree trunks, mud bricks, or wooden planks. I saw children 8 and 9 years old doing things that most 14 and 15 year olds could not do for such long periods of time. I saw 14 and 15 year olds doing things many adults would consider difficult. When we were building the well and needed water, the adults from the villiage would tell the young children to go get water from the swamp-like area, a distance of about 500 feet from the villiage. It was incredable to watch these small kids work together to carry 3 or 4 buckets full of 3-4 gallons of water each. After the well was done we built a platform around it by placing logs in a square and filling dirt in it. Boys my age (including myslef)spent hours digging and carrying dirt to fill the platform without a complaint. I think that God has told me this week to be grateful for what I have and through hard times to remember that many people have it worse than I do.