Santa Cruz - Christmas 2007

Dear Fr. Krystian, dear Friends from the Association of Friends of Franciscan Missions, dear benefactors and missionaries' friends,

The sun is shining and it is getting warmer in Bolivia. It is the sign that the hottest months in the year - December and January - are coming. Today we have the fourth Advent Sunday and soon we will celebrate Christmas!!! It cannot be compared with Christmas in Europe. Our palm tree is decorated festively and under it there is a crib. This is my fifth Christmas in Bolivia. It is unbelievable that I have spent so much time here.

Sending Christmas wishes is also an opportunity to write a few words. I try to write and send e-mails as often as possible. Answering letters, however, causes more problems. I try to remember and pray; I think about you very often but when I come back home after work I am too tired to write anything. Sometimes I work in the office till midnight and I catch up with the arrears. I do it in the evening because it is calmer then. The phone does not ring and people do not come to arrange for any matters.

There is a certain rhythm in what I do. I start the day with a Holy Mass and with a Laudes together with my fellow-brothers. Then I check what products we need and I go to the nearby market to do some shopping. You can buy everything here... from fruits and vegetables to bread and meat. When I come there everybody shouts: “Padre (father) buy at me, my products are fresh... etc.” I sometimes bargain with them and they wonder where I have learnt it. And you should bargain because they have it with their blood. When they see a “white” person they immediately raise the prizes of their products. And although they know that I don't let them trick me, they still try it. Sometimes I laugh at it. After buying food I go to the office. It is not only paper work. It is also taking orders, searching, organizing things for our whole missionary vicariate. Some of them are organized directly from the office and some have to be arranged in the town. The reality in Bolivia is different. You cannot buy everything in one shop. You have to call, ask and search. That is why one worker deals only with this. He drives, organizes searches and takes orders. Then we pack it and send it. If there is a bus which drives to a certain place we give it to the driver. If there are many things to deliver, I take the car and drive through our missionary vicariate. You need at least one week to visit all the houses and parishes. It is not only due to huge distances. You also have to take into consideration the quality of the roads, blockades and weather. Sometimes you spend hours waiting on a bridge over the Rio Grande. This is a railway bridge... so the trains have right of way, the traffic is one-way and sometimes you have to wait for a long time till all cars from the opposite direction go across it. During such a trip you arrange many things. You not only deliver goods. You also take other things to the town: letters, spare parts for machines etc. You also arrange many economical issues. You can check the account books, for example. Apart from that you meet people –- the fellow-brothers and Sisters from the vicariate and others. And people at “campo”, i.e. people in villages, are different. They are common, poor and good. You always return from such a trip with different feelings. But you go back home eagerly because such trips are very tiring.

This year there have been many changes in Bolivia, both in our vicariate and in our St. Anthony convent.

We have renovated a few rooms in our convent and it is clean and pleasant everywhere now. We have also enlarged our small St. Anthony chapel. Now it is twice as big and more people can go into it. The archbishop from Santa Cruz, cardinal Terrazas consecrated it on the day of the patron of our St. Anthony parish.

Unfortunately, our oldest fellow-brother, the founder and builder of our parish and our convent, Fr. Rudolph did not live to this event. After a serious illness he passed away from the world. He was an unusual person and worked in our parish for almost 58 years. But most of all, he was a good person and a good fellow-brother. We miss him everyday.

In our vicariate everyone works as much as he can. All our missionaries do their utmost. They devote their time and health for the sake of our missionary Church.

Our missionary vicariate would not be what it is without our bishop. Our bishop Anthony is a good shepherd who takes care of their sheep. He serves wherever he can. He is with the people and for the people. People cling on to him. Wherever he appears there are many people, especially children. He has kind words for everybody. He also cares of our whole vicariate and it is not easy nowadays. The vicariate is not easy to support itself. Each parish, each Sisters' Convent, each missionary hospital has to be funded by people from the outside. That is the reason why looking for funds, means etc. is not an easy task. And it falls on our bishop and on all of us.

In this letter I would like to thank you for the help you give to our missions and to me. We pray for our benefactors every day.

The situation in Bolivia has been very turbulent recently. In my opinion, the first Indian government, which two years ago started its authority with euphoria and was seen by many as their hope, has been losing control. The corruption and mess are bigger and bigger. There are more and more anxieties, strikes and blockades. People speak about the danger of a civil war. Let's hope that it won't happen. It would plunge the country into a total ruin. The prices of goods, including food, have risen incredibly. We have problems with fuel, especially with diesel. The politicians argue and people protest. The government policy aims at socialism and it would not bring anything good to the country. We know it from our own experience. Let's hope that everything will take a turn for better, especially for the sake of the poorest people in Bolivia.

This year we had many visits in Bolivia. Each such visit is a short interlude in the everyday humdrum. Prof. Sieroń and his wife were Bishop Anthony's guests. Both of them are very good doctors, significant in the field of Polish medicine. I had the opportunity to accompany them on their journey across the vicariate and a few other places in Bolivia. I am sure that this visit has been special for them. Maybe it will result in medical help in the future. He has donated to us medical equipment which will be used in our missionary hospital in Ascencion.

In October I had a group of eight people from Braunschweig staying here. Among them were Gerard and Karina - my brother and sister. I have described Bolivia and my work many times. But only being here opens eyes to reality. I think that for my family and friends it was also important to see where I live, where I work and what I do. I have showed them the vicariate and some places in Bolivia. They have felt the heat and the height, especially in La Paz. They have seen the everyday life, the people and their needs. I think that they have returned home full of new impressions and experiences. And I could only be happy that I had them here with me and thank them for the time they had spent with me.

Dear Fr. Krystian, dear collaborators of the Missionary Department in Góra Św. Anny!

Dear Mr. Michał and all members of the Fr. Dominik Kiesch Association of Friends of Franciscan Missions!

Dear benefactors and friends of the Mission in Bolivia!

Thank you for your remembrance, help and prayers. I assure you that I also remember about you in my prayers. God bless you for everything. And for the forthcoming Christmas I would like to wish you a lot of joy and care of Child Jesus. I wish you a lot of health and God's blessing for the year 2008!!!

Br. Tarcisio, ofm

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