Paro, Pioneer Meeting and Circuit Assembly

Here in Tarija, we had a Paro - which is a strike.  Civic leaders in Tarija called for a strike and blockade of international routes linking that department to border crossings to Paraguay and Argentina as it is between both provinces.  Tarijeños are upset at a study by a U.S. firm, which determined that the Margarita gas fields extend beyond departmental territory, resulting in lost royalties for the department. We had a holiday planned in Santa Cruz, had a bus booked there, flight booked home and accomodation sorted and we were excited .... until the Paro struck!

Here - when they have a strike, they stop working and block up all the roads with buses and taxis - no public transport is running.  Most shops are closed but the mercados (markets) are allowed to open until 10am each day - so you have a limited time to go and get food etc and unless you have a scooter or motorbike to get around the blockades - you have to walk! This was apparently one of the best paros as they were really enforcing it - we went shopping to get supplies the day after it started sometime around 9:30am.  We were in the supermarket and it must've been 10am, when one of the ladies standing by the door called out and they quickly shut the doors and everyone went down the back of the aisles to hide.  A group of men were walking around with sticks and rocks to make sure that the businesses were closing up so that the strike will have the needed impact and sometimes they will throw rocks at the doors and windows of businesses if they catch them open or hit the doors with sticks!  We went to the butcher straight after and the same thing happened - one of the boys heard the men coming and pulled down the roller door and just as he got it down - there was a big WHACK on the door from one of the men with sticks.  It was like being in a movie hehe.  And the fruit shop we went to after got a warning too.

Empty streets - men in the background in the middle of the road making sure the businesses are closed

At the start - there were no flights but a few days later, they had very limited flights late at night.  We had alot of drama because we had to rearrange everything, but managed to get out 2 days later when they opened up the flights. 

We weren't sure if we were going to get there so cancelled our accomodation as we had to give 2 days notice and then when we found out we could go - it was hard to find available accomodation.  Maria worked really hard ringing up places to see if they had space and checking with the airport and bus terminals.  We couldn't find any accomodation so she rang one of our friends here - who kindly put us in touch with some of her friends so we could still go and had a place to stay.  We were to leave at 10:45pm  and had confirmed we had a place to stay at about 9:30pm! 

The paro was on for a indefinite period so we weren't sure when or how we would be able to come home.  We really wanted to come home as we had our circuit assembly and pioneer meeting on.  We couldn't get home by bus in time so decided to pay more and fly so we wouldn't miss out on the spiritual banquet.  We got home Thursday night - the paro finished after 8 days (at least for now, not sure if it is going to start up again soon) and the pioneer meeting was on Friday - so it was as if Jehovah opened the way as others were trying to get to Tarija as well for these meetings.  At the pioneer meeting, one of the brothers used the paro as an illustration - the people were united in their efforts to strike in protest in order to be heard and get what they want -highlighting how we pioneers need to serve in unity along with the publishers in our congregations.



With some of our good friends at the pioneer meeting - they are always looking out for us



With our friends from Canada who serve here in a small town - their group recently became a congregation



Isabel is studying the bible with another sister but sat with us up in the stands both days

We had the privilege of being rostered on during the assembly to clean the portaloos!