At the end of our last trip to Peru, once homes were built, food distributed and kids hugged – there was a pull to head to La Paz, Bolivia. A mountainous city – great culture, history and jammed pack with houses. 
What that reason was we were not sure. Yet…we felt that we could lend assistance at the area of the recent mudslides. We set out one morning in search of someone who could point us in the right direction to offer assistance when we came across a building where there was a truck unloading supplies at the main library. There was alot of “busy-ness,” tv cameras and activity. So we waited and watched. And…moved in closer!

The mayor of a neighboring city from Santa Cruz was there with truckloads of food to help out their “sister city” of La Paz. And then…he walked in our direction, the tv cameras followed the mayor, and we seemed to always be in the background right behind him. We waited for our chance to be interviewed and waited and waited, we flipped through every tv station that night including CNN looking for our pics! We just knew that Trinity’s Angels was going to be represented. But we couldn’t find any picture with us in it. We apparently were cropped out! Go figure.

After the area around the library cleared out and the tv stations left, we started asking people if we could help, in any area where they needed assistance. First,  we were put in touch with the man running the center and were told to help sort through the clothes that had been donated.  Mounds and mounds, bags and bags of clothes were brought down the stairway into a huge room where they were sorted by size and type. Here are a few shots of us with masks on – we had to use gloves too in order to make sure that we weren’t stuck with anything or breathed things that we shouldn’t! It was a good feeling to be a part of the disaster relief program.

At the end of that process we asked if we could help at the camp at the bottom of the mudslide and were put in touch with the Executive Secretary of La Paz. He accepted our offer and told us that he would call us and tell us where to report. Now that was divine intervention. Although I just KNEW he would call – unfortunately he never did. Still waiting!

Stacks of food, water and supplies that would eventually be shipped out to the camps where the people affected by the slide were living. They were so organized – it was awesome to watch the process.

The following day since we hadn’t heard from the director we decided to take matters into our own hands Oh no!!!!  We decided to go to the camp area. We flagged down a taxi and hired him to drive us to the main site. And it took our breath away. He was a wealth of information and explained a great deal about what had happened, how and why. We stayed at the main site for about 30 minutes – just unable to walk away. If he would have let us – I believe we would have stayed all day just to watch and pray and be with the people.

With a loud crash the hill slid at 7:20 in the morning. Surprisingly there were no fatalities as the shacks were buried under tons of mud and dirt.

Searching through the rumble to find what little possessions they have in life.

 During our time at the slide site, the ground at the top of the hill started to rumble and slide again. In that moment we knew that there had been a reason we were not suppose to help. No reason to put our lives in danger when it could be helped. As we left the site it was enough to know that we had obedient to the call He placed on us.

In His continual Grip,

Stephanie