A cow bought the farm...

I had a very interesting weekend. As a staff we were going to Sorata for a retreat. It's a trekking hotspot. It was a beautiful place. We enjoyed some wonderful time relaxing together, worshipping, enjoying camp fires, eating good food. It was a nice weekend. It's a little rough being gone Saturday and Sunday and then having school on Monday...but all in all it was worth the time and effort.

It was a good weekend...except for an incident that happened on Saturday. It's sort of hard to believe that it actually happened. On Saturday as we drove down, I was driving "the beast." The beast is a 1978 (I think) Toyota Land Cruiser. It truly is a beast. We were driving along through Bolivia on a nice road, going about 40-50 mph (the beast doesn't go anywhere very quickly). We were in a farming area and there was a cholita walking her herd of cattle/sheep/donkeys towards us in the other lane. No worries. The cows gave every indication that they were quite content in their lane.

However, about right when I reach the herd, one of the cows decides it likes something on the other side of the road. So it gingerly walks across the road, sadly, right in the path of the oncoming truck. I slammed on the brakes but there just wasn't enough time to stop. I slammed into the cow going about 30 mph.

It was horrible. Thankfully, no one inside the truck was injured. Sadly, the cow did not fair so well. It didn't die, but was laying in front of the truck in shock. A crowd quickly gathered. Thankfully, the Molenas were close by. Marcos Molena is Bolivian and works for the school. They turned around and came back to help. I don't know what we would have done if he hadn't been there. A truck full of americans. Killed a cow. The crowd could have quickly gotten out of hand. Marcos was able to talk to them and explain what happened and we were able to settle the matter quickly. We had to pay for the cow, about $400.

Ironically, the beast comes equipped with a bull guard on the front. So the damage was minimal. Nothing happened to the engine. Which says a lot about the beast, because hitting an 800-1000 lbs. cow at around 30 mph probably would have totaled any other car.

It was a sad thing that happened. I felt really bad about hitting and killing such a big animal.

However, through all of it, even though some things about it are hard to understand, God's grace and provision did shine through.

No one was hurt.

Marcos was there to help.

The truck still drives fine.

I was driving instead of one of the girls.

There were others in our group nearby to help gather together the money.

The crowd did not riot or get out of hand.

And other little ways.

So it was not a fun experience. But I am glad everyone is okay. And hopefully the people in the town will be touched by our attitudes and actions towards them. We didn't get mad or angry or protest the price. We expressed our sympathy and our regret that it had happened. We paid for the cow. And Marcos prayed for them and the situation before we left. Hopefully, they saw something of the love of Christ in the craziness that happened.