Angry parent. SNAKE!!!

Putting my life in harms way to save the village!

So far this week has been pretty lax as far as adventurizing and fun stories goes. However, on Wednesday, while I was making lunch for the kids, Eric yelled for me from our house and told me that there was a snake in our house. So I dropped everything and darted over to the house. We are not sure, but we think it was a Fur-de-lance snake which, even though is a lot smaller, is one of the most dangerous snakes in the jungle, more so than pythons or anaconda's. This is because these snakes like warm evironments so they like to sleep in houses (especially in beds under the blankets) making them very sneaky and hard to find unless you are looking for them. They have a medium amount of venom, but their venom effects your neurological functions. Needless to say, this was a little concerning. So after taking a couple pictures with it, I cut it's head off with a machete. Then Edwin wanted to take 1 or 2 wacks at it before it disposed of it outside.

 The other interesting thing that happened was a little more encouraging and made me happy to see. Guillermo (one of my boys), who, at times can be very helpful or at other times can be completely worthless and disobediant, decided to come in my room just to talk. At first it just started out as talking about random little things. Then we started talking about religion and Revelation. He is actually really smart and knows Revelation pretty well. He was even quoting some scripture which is not something you would normally expect from a little boy, especially Guillermo. But he actually understands the imprtance of everything and knows that we don't have much time left before Jesus comes and that we need to study the Bible every single day and that Ellen White is a prophet. So it was very nice talking to him and finding out that he actually has a spiritual life and tries to have personal devotions most days.

Saturday Dec. 22, 2012

 Once again, we had no plans for church today. The girls just wanted to show the kids another movie this Sabbath, but we have done that for the past 2 Sabbath's. So Eric and I really wanted to do something different. We had heard that there is a church in Rurre (about a 25 minute drive), and another group of people that have their own service about 5 minutes up the road. Joy said that we were more than welcome to take the truck up there with some of the kids and go to that service. However, shortly before we left, we were told that the truck had a flat tire. So Eric went off to change that while I got all the kids ready to go.

 Fortunately we got everything finished just in time to make it to the church service. So we loaded up and took off. It probably only took us 3 min. to get there. Once we got there, I parked the truck on the side of the road and a group of about 10 of us got off the truck, marched through a few trees and into the backyard of this family. They immediately got up and greeted us with warm smiles, handshakes and hugs. There were probably 15 people already there singing hymms on benches. So our group pretty much doubled the church size.

 I really did enjoy this service a lot. It was very small, very quiet, but very reverent. We were surrounded by grapefruit trees, oranges, and bananas to boot. As tradition in Bolviia, we sang close to a million songs, had a kneeling prayer, a standing prayer, and then the sermon. At the close of the sermon, they said their fairwells and told us that they appreciated us coming and told us that santo sena (communion) is next Sabbath in Rurre. So Eric and I are going to try our best to go to that.

 Later that evening, Eric went over to Missy's house to sleep (he did that friday night too). The reason for this is because Missy is in Santo Cruz and has 2 barrels of gasoline in her house. This brings numerous thieves every summer to Familia Feliz because they know that there are only a few people on campus. So Eric, machete in hand, took 2 of the younger boys with him and took off to sleep at Missy's. The next morning he told me that 2 times during the night, 2 guys had come and tried to break in. Fortunately he was awake both times. The second time he went to the door with his machete while they were trying to break in and banged back on the door and asked who was there. Then they took off and wern't coming back. As it turns out, after they tried Missy's house, they went to the girls dorm to break in there. However Lizelle was there. Enough said. She is one bolivian that you just no not want to mess with. She will tear you apart. Hopefully I am telling the story accurately, you can probably get more details from Eric's blog about he was the hero of the orphanage ;-) .


Moises passed out in a sheet on the floor

*Oh, side note, the kid that sat beside me in church had 6 toes on one foot. So I was busy examining that for awhile.

Sunday Dec. 23, 2012

Today became very stressful very quick. Today is Eric's half day off and he was waiting to leave with Joy so he wouldn't have to pay for a taxi. Once Joy was ready, Eric, Lizelle.. and her took off to town. Normally this isn't a huge deal leaving me, a 19 year old girl, and baker steve as the only adults on campus. However, today was a little different. I was across campus talking with Steve when Jaculine, yelled my name and asked me to come over to the dorm. As I was walking over there, I saw a man there who I didn't recognize. Turns out, he is an angry parent. Keep in mind, Jaculine doesn't speak any english, steve doesn't speak spanish, my spanish is very sketchy, and non of us are really in charge. So Jaculine wanted me to try and talk with this guy and deal with it.

Stress rate increasing.





Turns out (this is what I have gathered from the spanish that I do know. I will have to confirm it later with Joy) that he is a parent of one of the boys on campus and wanted to not only see him, but wanted to take him back with him. But once he got here, he found out that the group he has been staying with is in Santo Cruz and wasn't there. This was maddening to him because he explained that he is not someone who has a lot of money, and he traveled a long way to see his son and give him a few Christmas gifts. So in that sense I felt very bad for him. However, he was wanting to take his son back with him and as far as I have heard about the boy, Familia Feliz has custody of him. So I was not going to let him know that I knew exactly where his son was because it is not my responsibility or my fight. I am not about to tell a parent, in broken spanish, that he is not allowed to take his son because of my hunch on the legality of it. So I explained that I'm not the one in charge, but I understand his frustration in wanting to come see his son and his son not being here. However, there is not much I can do. I explained that Joy (the director) was in town and would be coming back later that evening. But he was too anxious to wait or come back. So he went into town in search of her. So after 40 minutes of an angry bolivian parent talking to me, he left.

It was very good that he was cool and collected and not violent. That would have been a whole other batch of worms. After he left though, Steve made me feel good because he asked me how in the world did I just understand everything that guy just said. I just laughed and said that I didn't really get a lot of it. Just bits and pieces and I put it together. Then he responded and said that I completely fooled him, especially when I rattled off back to the guy in spanish. So that was a little positive reinforcement!

A few hours later, I went into town and planned on spending the night in town. It was great. There is a little hotel the only costs about $7 per night (for their cheapest room) and has wifi. There are only 2 hotels to my knowledge here in Rurre that have free wifi and the other hotel is more expensive and the internet doesn't work very well. So for $7 dollars, I was very happy and had internet all night. I was able to skype my parents for and hour and a half and talk with my girlfriend for awhile too. Now it is Monday morning and Christmas Eve! So this will be my last post before Christmas! Hope everyone has a great one and remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!


You stay civilized......planet earth!!!

A Lot Of Town

Monday Dec. 10, 2012

Today is my day to come to town……sweet! I spent about 4 straight hours at an internet café talking online with friends and family. I spent a good portion of that time catching up and chatting with several other student missionaries that are out this year. After I had spent almost my entire time at the café, I got a little hungry and decided to grab a quick bite to eat. So I went to this jungle café and got a lentil burger which was delicious! But while I was waiting for my food, I saw these white people at another table looking in travel books. But just because people are white, does not mean they speak English. Because a lot of tourists here are Israeli. But I decided to go up to them and ask them where they were from. Turns out they were from Poland and DO speak English. So it was kind of fun talking to them for a bit. I gave them a little advice on Rurre, and told them about how I have been working here and will be here another 6 months or so. Upon hearing that, they said, "oh, well we may have to catch a taxi up there and visit you or something sometime". But everyone knows how that usually goes. So I responded by saying that sounds like a great idea and that they should do it (knowing that they probably won’t). But then the sad moment came when my day off was over, so I headed back to the taxi place and went back to Familia Feliz.

I interrupt this blog with a story about one of my kids. His name is David. This is not the David that lives with me during the school year and the one I described in my earlier blogs. This David is Eric’s David. He calls both Eric and I Papi, and really likes both of us. Anyway, he sometimes has this habit of talking really fast to Eric and I, forgetting that he needs to slow down just a little bit for us still. So one day he knocked on our door and acted a little frantic (which happens a lot but is never really THAT important), and he started talking extremely fast again and trying to tell us what happened. So I decided that I was going to respond to him the same way that I was hearing him. So what I did was start talking gibberish really fast and throwing 1 or 2 completely random spanish words in there just to throw him off balance. So everyone reading this blog, I want you to right now pretend that you speak Chinese and say like 2 sentences……that is what I sounded like. But the funny part is, he listened to me intently, and when I was done, he said "ok" and walked away like I had solved every one of his problems. I guess he assumed that I knew exactly what I was talking about because I was talking with such a straight face and pretended that I understood him perfectly.

Eric thought this was absolutely hilarious and couldn’t understand exactly what happened. Because it usually takes us a few minutes to take care of his "issues", so he wanted to know how I did that and how it worked! So ever since, when David has come to us and starts talking fast, I just talk gibberspanish back to him. I think he has caught on now because he has started to reply is complete gibberish too (yes, I’m sure it’s gibberish and not just more fast Spanish). But yet, it still always takes care of the problem!

Back to Monday, as soon as I got back to the village, I saw Eric and Steven taking pictures of something with the kids. So I walked over and it was this really cool looking lizard! It even changed the color of its body depending on it’s’ environment. When it was on one of the boys’ arms, it turned brown, then when we put it in the grass, it turned green. So we ended up playing with that for awhile.

That evening, we started up the generator, but after a few minutes, it started it fade in and out, making all the lights flicker. So I ran over to turn it off to see what the problem was. Turns out, it was out of gas. So Steven and I went to siphon gas into a jug to use for the generator. That was pretty exciting because that was the first time I have ever tried to siphon gas! Granted, I was only able to get a little bit at a time, so Jose had to help me a little bit. Once we filled up the tank, the generator was good to go! No more problems that night.

Just a side note, we have been without water for 2 days now because of another rainstorm. So Jose went up to fix it this afternoon. That means that hopefully the water will be back tomorrow afternoon because even after the pipes are fixed, it takes another 24 hours for the water to get here.

Tuesday Dec. 11, 2012

This morning, after breakfast, Eric and I were asked to take the lawnmower battery in to town to see if we could get it charged. Because the lawnmower has been broken for a very long time, but Juan is just now wanting to fix it. But the battery is dead, and since a new battery costs about $100, they want to try and fix it for about $1.50 first. So Eric and I took it to town, not exactly sure where to go, but we found a sketchy shop that said they would do it. So we left the battery with them and went to check our email, get food, and check the "post office". When we went to go get food, we saw those Polish people again. They instantly remembered me, or the beard rather and said hello. They then proceeded to tell Eric and I about how they were planning on coming up that afternoon. This completely shocked me that they were actually wanting to do that. So we talked to them awhile and told them how to get there. But we were a little concerned because it was already 12:30 and taxi’s stop going at 5:30. So again, we figured they wouldn’t come. But they said, oh, well we will still try! To that we said goodbye.

After getting back to the village, Eric and I immediately went to go fix the lawnmower, but what do you know…..broken. So that now leaves the big truck, the little truck, the moto bike, and the lawnmower all broken. That pretty much everything on campus that has a motor is broken (except for the generator). After that, I went to go help Steven make quinoa bread and sweet rolls. This was actually very exciting because I have never made sweet rolls with him and boy were they good! It tasted like CinnaBon had come to Familia Feliz! But while we were putting them in the oven, I heard a strange sound off in the distance, so I turned around to see a taxi on the other side of campus (the reason that is strange is because the taxi’s never come into the village, they simply drop you off at the road). As soon as I saw the cab, I knew exactly who it was, the Polish! I couldn’t believe it! So I yelled to Eric to go welcome them as I searched for someone to take my place and help Steve. But once I did, I walked over and welcomed them and then started to give them the tour of Familia Feliz.

It was very interesting talking with them. It turns out that they are a Catholic couple who are traveling all over South America making a documentary and wanting to see the world. They had never heard about Seventh-day Adventists which was nice because it gave me a chance to talk to them about our religion. So I talked a little bit about our beliefs and what our purpose as missionaries was. They seemed very receptive and asked me questions. So I very much enjoyed our talk. After I gave them the grand tour of the compound, and after talking with them for awhile, they needed to get going so they did not miss the last taxis. So we bid them farewell and they were on their way. And to answer your question, no, they did not video record us for their documentary, so as much as you all would love for Eric and I to become movie stars, you will have to wait a little bit longer.

That evening I went to go start the generator, but what do you know, it was broken. So I called Eric over and we started to take it apart to try and fix it. Then one of the teenagers came over to try and fix it but nothing was working. We were taking pieces off left and right! But everything looked ok. So just when everyone was about to give up, I saw a switch that no one had messed with that I thought may give us a chance. It had to deal with the fuel source for the generator. But when I asked the teenager about it, he said "no, no that won’t work, that won’t do anything". So I told him he might as well give it a try, why not right? So he did, and it started right up! Phew! I don’t think many of you realize exactly how important that generator is. That generator is our only source of power during the day and gives us light at night time. If that breaks, we are in trouble.

Wednesday Dec. 12, 2012

Today I found out that apparently, the electric people are ready to install to the electricity for the village and will be coming tomorrow! This means that we can have electricity at all times! Now thats just crazy talk! Now do I REALLY believe that they will come tomorrow? Not a chance in the world. But it is still exciting that there is a pretty good chance they will come withing the next 6 months, but only time will tell.

Before the electricity can be installed however, we need to build a brick tower about 6.5 ft. tall with another foot dug into the ground. So Joy asked If I would help them build it which I was more than happy to do. However, after we dug the hole, and were ready to use cement, we realized that the wrong sand had been purchased. So my job changed into going to town, purchasing new sand and coming back. However, the tire had popped again. So before we left, Eric and I changed that bad boy out again.

So I headed into town with Joy in search of new sand, but we couldn't find anyone that was open. So I dropped her off, picked up her nephew Noel, and looked for more sand. Fortunately we found it but there is no full service here which is a foreign concept to Gringo's. So we got out and began shoveling a ton of sand with one shovel. Afterwards, we went and picked up the flat tire that we had dropped off earlier to be repaired, and were on our way back. But by the time we got back, it was dark, so things would have to wait until tomorrow.

Thursday Dec. 13, 2012

This morning was a bonus day for me because I got to go to town! This is not a normal day for me to do this, but yesterday, Joy asked me if I would because she needed me to help her with a few things. Today is however Eric's normal half day off, so we went in together. As usual, we wanted to get an early start, so we were in the car at 6:30 am. However, as we were driving out, Lizelle came out and stopped us and asked if we would wait for her to get ready and get 2 of her kids ready. We obviously had to say yes, which normally thats not a problem. But she said she would be 15 minutes. Whenever you hear that in Bolivia, that means it's time to whip out a pillow, popcorn, and a movie, because you will be waiting forever. So Eric and I ended up waiting for them for over an hour while they got ready. In some instances, that would call for us to just leave them, but the 2 boys needed some medical treatment at the clinic.

Once we got to town, I dropped Eric off at the internet cafe and dropped Lizelle and the boys off at her brothers house then proceeded to meet up with Joy. After I met with her I was off to run a few errands. I needed to pick up a list of items from a hardware store for the electricity tower. That took way longer than it needed to however. And then after that, it was 9:40, and Lizelle had told me that the boys' appointment was at 10:00. So I figured that it was a good time to go pick her up. When I got there at 9:45 to pick her up, she looked at me and said, "the appointment isn't until 10" to which I told her it's already 9:45. She was still confused at why I was there so early, but she got in. After I waited with her at the clinic for the boys to get done, I took her back to her brothers, met up with Eric, then went back to the hardware store because the power had gone out earlier. But once I got there (at the time they originally told me to come back) they said noooooo you will have to come back in 3 hours. Blah. So I decided to kill time with Eric at an internet cafe waiting.

Later on, Joy met up with us and was curious what was going on. So I told her everything that happened and where everything stood. So she said ok and that she would take care of the rest. So I took the truck, picked up Lizelle and the boys, and went back. Eric stayed back because since I had a few hours today, and would be coming back tomorrow, he was just going to take the full day off which was fair.

When I got back at 3, I went straight to work peeling potatoes, carrots, and onions. I was chopping vegetables left and right like there was no tomorrow! Those vegetables didn't stand a chance. For dinner, I made soup with pasta, and vegetable, and garlic salt. I have to say, it was pretty darn good. I even got a compliment from Lizelle! From Lizelle! She doesn't throw compliments around willy nilly. So that made me feel special haha.

But after I had cooked the food, and was waiting for it to cool down, I went over to where the kids were behind the big house in the Arroyo. They were all swimming and having a good time. So I just ran in and tackled Jose when he was least expecting it! So we jumped around in the water and splashed for awhile. Then they wanted to teach me a game. It's called Sol y Hielo. Basically, it's a spanish version of freeze tag, only you have to touch the person's head to freeze and unfreeze them. Somehow, Jose and I were chosen to be it. This is probably one of the hardest game's for someone who has gringo feet to play. There are rocks, wood, ants, trash, and other sharp and hard objects everywhere! And to make it worse, these kids dart off into the jungle and will dart up trees. I have never seen any human being climb trees like these 7 year old kids can! I swear they somehow have monkey blood in them. So obviously I'm just kind of jogging trying not to hurt myself, and trying to find a way to tag these kids without killing myself. But they have like jungle super powers! So after a good while of trying, and playing, I got tired and the kids got hungry. So we went back to get something to eat.

Friday Dec. 14, 2012

Today I woke up at 5:45 so I could get an early start to town. The reason for this is because the first internet place opens at 6:30, and when there is no one there, the internet is usually very fast. But my trip to town was going to be a little more fun and a little more interesting because I'm bringing Jose into town with me.

Jose is 17 years old, but not much bigger than a 13 year old. He has been living in our house this summer and has been an absolute joy. He sleeps upstairs with the boys and has been able to help Eric and I out by keeping the boys under control at bed time. Jose has been very diligent in helping us out. whether it be cleaning up around the house, keeping the kids in order, or helping interpret to the kids. He does not speak english, but he can usually understand what Eric and I say in our broken spanish. So he then relays it in perfect spanish to the kids if the don't understand. Fortunately he doesn't haven't to do that very often because we are becoming better and better at spanish everyday!

So Jose, and I went out to the road and did the normal wait for a taxi. While we were waiting, I decided to play a game with him. So we picked stones out of the road and aimed at a telephone pole about 20 yards away. He hit the stupid pole 3 times in a row before I hit it once! So he won that round. Next we aimed for a telephone wire above us, but I took that round.

The taxi got us and we were off. When we got to town, I took him to the french bakery where they have absolutely amazing food for cheap! I told him he could have whatever he wanted, today was my treat. But he was very respectful and only got one pastry. After that, I took him to an internet cafe which was completely foreign to him. It was so much fun! He had never really even seen a computer. When he saw the screen he was shocked to see that it was a flat screen. And then when I showed him it had a keyboard, he had no idea! It just shocked him. We then proceeded to make him a facebook account which he thought was the coolest thing. I showed him how he can find his friends, message them, see their pictures, and see what they had to say. We even took pictures right there in the cafe so he could have a profile picture and look legit. He thought this was so fun. He was just adding friends left and right, and even started adding some of my friends that he has no idea who they are!

After spending a few hours at the cafe, we went to Narguila's to get us something to eat before we headed back to the village. I told him that he could get absolutely anything he wanted off of the big menu (which was scary because there are some expensive things on there). But what do you know, he was still respectful and got one of the cheapest things, soup. I asked him if he was sure, because I would pay for whatever he wanted. But all he ordered was asparagus soup which he thought was SO good. He had never had that before. I also ordered us a strawberry bananah smoothie for us to share. It was so nice to treat him today and to reward him for all his help. I'd like to say his is becoming one of my favorites, but really, there are so many that are becoming my favorites. This kids are helping to give me such a good experience!

Saturday Dec. 15, 2012

Sabbath these days brings about a lot of uncertainty. Since Melissa has been gone for a couple weeks, no one seems to know what's happening for church. So Eric and I put on another sabbath movie for the kids. No one seems to know what is going on ever. But hey, thats Bolivia right?

While the kids were in the big house having their cinechurch, Eric and I had some really good bonding time. We talked about careers, summer plans, where we want to live next year (at school), and we were cooking. Ok, we were TRYING to cook. We were wanting to make mahalito which when made properly, is super delicious. But Eric and I were really struggling. For example, we had a huge industrial size pot that we were using to make rice. However, we could not find a strainer anywhere! So we did everything we could think of to strain the water. We tried pouring it out while using a spoon to keep the rice in, we tried putting a lid on the pot to keep the rice in, but then came our most intuitive idea yet, Eric went to them room and got one of his bedsheets. We then tried to dump everything into the bedsheet hoping that the water would go straight through. Well, not so much. Apparently Eric's sheets are super absorbant! He could wet the bed and no one would even know....

In the end, the kids got really wet, soupy, mahalito (which is supposed to be like a dry fried rice). Everytime Eric and I cook something really bad, which is usually the case, we hope that it will be so bad that our boys will complain to the girls, and they will start to cook for us. Isn't that a genius plan? We think so! Some of the kids have actually already complained to the girls and asked them for food. But we still have yet to recieve an offer to cook for us.

Sabbath afternoon I was going to take the kids to Asunta, but shortly before we left, it started pouring down rain. So I didn't really have a desire to drive in the beat up truck with 20 kids in the back while it's pouring down rain. So I told them that I would take them tomorrow. So while it was raining, I read chapter 37 of the Great Controversy which is absolutely fantastic and spot on (so is chapter 36). I was also able to sneak in a tintsy bitsy nap. That evening, we showed them a Stuart Little movie.

Sunday Dec. 16, 2012

Today was a pretty rainy day, but I didn't want the kids to sit on campus doing nothing. So I decided to take them to Asunta in the truck. Which turned out to be a great idea! Once everyone was loaded up, we took off out of the village. But once we got to the main road, we were met with a 5 foot wall of dirt! This is because they are working on the roads and trying to level, then pave them! But this caused a problem because we were all piled in a rickety old truck. So a few of us got out and started digging. We wanted to at least make the wall a little shorter before we tried to ram through it. This ended up being the highlight of all my driving experience in Bolivia. I put the truck in reverse and just went for it. There was probably still about 4 feet of dirt to clear, but I made it! We FLEW over that thing and all the kids thought it was super fun. After that, I just couldn't wait to get back so I could go back over it!

Once we got to Asunta, the mud immediately started flying! We were throwing dirt and tackleing each other all over the place. It is always super cute to see the little 3 year olds try and throw dirt on people because the pretty much just pick up the dirt and throw it back down with a little force. The kids also wanted to play Sol y Hielo again, so I played for a few minutes until I realized exactly how many sharp rocks were around. So I stopped and decided to build a sand castle instead. As soon as it started to actually look like a sand castle, a bunch of kids swarmed over and wanted to help. Once we were starting to wrap it up, little Charlie thought it would be fun to run over and just jump on the castle. Eh, it's no big deal. We were about to leave and he was having fun.

That was pretty much the end of the excitment for the day. Nothing too major happened. I will keep trying to make my posts more interesting and give more stories. Stay tuned!

You stay civilized......planet earth!!!!

Monday Dec. 3, 2012

Family I stayed with in La Paz

                Today I am taking the morning off. Eric and I have decided that we will both take 2 mornings off each week instead of one full day. This is because we are now the sole parents of the kids in this house, making it difficult to spend a whole day alone. So I will still be coming to town ever Monday from about 8 am to noonish, then again on Friday. He will be taking Tuesday and Thursday mornings off. We have decided that we want to be back by about 1 or so so that we can help each other cook and watch the kids in the afternoon.

                This afternoon when I got back I had to dish out a little punishment. The first story was because someone soaked another students’ (Jose’s) bed with water. This obviously made Jose mad and upset. When he told me what happened, he said he thought it was David, but then David said it was Guillermo, then Guillermo said it was David. So I got both of them together and asked who did it and they looked at each other and both said Moises. I obviously knew it couldn’t be Moises, so I told the boys that I would punish them both if they didn’t tell me who did it, and then when I found out who it really was, that person would get an even worse punishment.  So immediately Guillermo perked up and said it was him. So I said Thank you and went downstairs to talk to Eric about my idea for punishment. He loved it. So I went to Jose (the kid whose bed got soaked) and I told him that he could take 2 liters of water and soak Guillermo’s bed! He was SO excited and couldn’t believe that I was letting him do that! So later on when I said he could, he went upstairs and did the deed. However, what I didn’t know was that Guillermo was IN his bed asleep. So that was a rude awakening. However He didn’t complain about it at all because he knew he had it coming.

                At just about the same time, the other David in the house came up to me and said someone trashed his dresser and threw all of his just washed and folded clothes all over the floor. There were only a couple people around, and the most mischievous, Moises, was sitting right there on the floor looking guilty. So I asked him if he did it and he quickly said no. I asked him if he was lying and said that when you lie, it only makes things a lot worse for you, a lot lot worse. Then I said I was going to ask him one last time if he did it, then after I did, he hung his head and was quiet, then he looked up and said no. I asked him if that was his final answer and then he paused, and then said he did it. So I said thank-you and told him that he will have to do David’s laundry next time.

                There is a big problem in this house as far as wetting the bed. Because most all of these kids are going through that stage. But the last story I have to note of this day was right before the kids fell asleep, Moises and David said “Teacher Eric, Teacher Eric” (who was standing right beside me) “we just went pee pee”. So these kids just pee’d the bed before they were even asleep! So I actually thought that was a little funny.

Tuesday Dec. 4, 2012

                Today Eric went to town in the morning. This was my first real test of patience because normally I have Eric here with me who is absolutely phenomenal with kids. But today, I was on my own. The first task was to cook breakfast. So to make that easy, I decided to give them oranges, bananas, and scrabled and fried eggs. BAM! Done!

                Now to get them to work. That is by far the hardest part. So today, I wanted to take all of my boys over to the church with brooms, buckets, and brushes. The church floor became extremely dirty and gross. So Eric and I thought it needed a good cleaning. The kids eagerly went over there. However, they weren’t so eager to actually work. Most all of them worked a little bit, but Jose and Moises worked hard the entire time. We cleaned all the pews and almost all of the floor with soap and water. It looks so much better. And since those 2 boys worked without stopping and didn’t play around, I gave them Oreo’s in front of everyone and explained why they were getting them and why the other boys were not.

                For lunch, we got really lucky because Steven decided that he was going to cook for us which was a big surprise. He cooked soup and potato wedges. It was not only scrumptious, but saved me the hassle of stressing about what to cook for the kids. After lunch, Eric got back. The kids played for a good portion of the afternoon.

                Later in the evening again was when I had bad sides come out again. My David (“davicito”) decided he was going to take one of Erics’ David’s mango. My Davicito took the mango and started to eat it which made the other David sad. So I called my Davicito downstairs, took him to a corner, put a piece of tape on the wall and said that he needed to put his nose on the tape and not take it off for 10 minutes. Genius punishment right? Well I can’t take full credit for it because my girlfriend came up with it. So he stood there, not allowed to talk to anyone or look at anything other than the wall for 10 minutes.

                Later , Eric and I were downstairs talking and all of a sudden we hear terrified scream coming from upstairs. So I ran up there to find Edwin (the new boy) pushing David off of his top bunk headfirst toward the ground! Poor David was so scared and shaking. So I caught him and brought him down to the ground and made sure he was ok. Then I talked very sternly with Edwin because he has been having some bully issues recently. So I’ve decided that I need to talk to Melissa about what to do with him.

                Probably the funniest thing that happened today with Moises. The boys have been making French fries several times today. But Moises (who is 11 but a little slower than most kids) decided that he wanted to add a little flavor to his French fries, so instead of using regular cooking oil like everyone else, he was going to use something special and make a delicacy, he used motor oil. Fortunately we smelled it and caught him before anyone, including himself ate it.

                Another kinda funny thing that happened today was right before I layed down to go to bed, I took a drink of water. Then a few seconds after I layed down, a drip of something landed on my lips. I had no idea what it was or where it came from. I was just hoping it wasn’t pee coming from one of the kids’ beds upstairs! Then it hit me, I figured out where it came from. There was water on my mustache, and when I layed down, it dripped from the hairs onto my mouth! Gross right? Nah, that’s awesome! Haha

Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012

                This morning Eric and I woke up and fixed breakfast for everyone, then Eric and 3 of the boys went up to the Toma to fix the water because a big storm last night knocked out the water. Leaving me with most of the boys which was no problem. It has actually been very helpful to have Steven here as a little relief too. The boys pretty much played all day. Then in the evening, Eric and I showed them Lassie and then they all went to bed. Nothing too exciting happened.

Thursday Dec. 6, 2012

                Today was Eric’s second town day and to be honest, I don’t really remember what happened today. I usually type up my blog once or twice a week and sometimes the days completely run together. So I will make it up to you and try to post a few more pictures here.

Friday Dec. 7, 2012

                Today was my second town day!! Sweet! So me being the cheapskate that I am, I ate breakfast here so I wouldn’t have to buy any in town. But today I stocked up a little bit on my snacks, used the internet, picked up Erics’ laundry for him and just enjoyed being away.

                On my way back however, I stopped to see if there were any packages for either me or Eric, and we each had 2! Normally they would never let me pick up Eric’s mail, but it was a new girl and I told her that he wasn’t with me and really wanted them. I also showed her that they were to and from the same address. So she let it slide. I walked out of that “post office” (which is more like a shed filled with random mail) and felt like the king of the world with 4 packages stacked on top of each other! Turns out that our Christmas and thanksgiving packages arrived about the same time. So when I got back to Familia Feliz, Eric and I tore into them! We got some veggie meat, stickers, chocolate, gravy, mash potatoes, instant cook cookies, cranberry stuff for Thanksgiving, and tons of letters from our friends back home. While we were opening those packages, I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we felt like we were at home. It is non-stop excitement and joy when we get a package and open it. Turns out that they only took about 2 or 3 weeks to get here too! So thank-you southern and too all who wrote me letters!

Saturday Dec. 8, 2012

                Eric and I did not have the best wakeup call in the world. We woke up to the kids yelling something about poop. Turns out that Moises (same kid who pee’d the bed while he was awake, and who baked with motor oil), needed to go to the bathroom and could not make it. So there was poop upstairs on the floor, all down the stairwell, in the kitchen, and all over the toilette seat. Fortunately, Eric manned up and said he would go out and take care of it because he knows how I get around poop. You can smear spider guts all over my face, you can put a cockroach in my mouth, but DO NOT under any circumstance put me near poop, especially when it is not in a toilette, because I WILL throw up. Not maybe, I will.

                So now, the entire house smells like poop and we have to wait for the wind to take care of it. We made him clean up his mess, but there is still a stench. Lizelle came over this morning and also found more poop right outside against the side of the house. Turns out that was Moises too. Not sure exactly why he went to the side of the house to do that when it is not only further away than the bathroom, but there is no toilette paper there either? Oh well.

                This morning for church, we sang 3 songs, and watched a Bible Movie that Eric’s mom sent him. It was also the first time that I prayed in front of people in Spanish! Phew. I’m sure I was extremely wrong in what I said, but I’m sure they knew what I meant.

                We just finished lunch and now the kids are playing, so now I am going to read a little and then take a power nap! Oh, and Eric says hi.

                Well, I woke up a little while later and Eric and I commenced the process of cooking dinner for all the kids. However, Milton, one of Joys kids, came over and asked if we wanted to go to town and play volleyball tonight. Eric and I got so excited because we LOVE volleyball and were even on the same A league intramural team at southern. But we weren’t sure if we could both go because someone needed to watch the kids. That is why we decided to take them all with us! Once we got into town, around 8:15pm, Joy dropped us off at some indoor courts which are actually racquetball courts converted into volleyball courts. This was an absolute blast. We played with the kids and the other volunteers until 10 pm. They don’t really know how to play volleyball and just hit the ball with not much rhyme or reason which I thought was pretty funny.

Sunday Dec. 9, 2012

                Today was a hard day, because Eric was going to town in the afternoon. He changed his days so now he is going to town on Sunday and Thursday. While my days to go to town are still on Monday and Friday mornings.

                However today, 2 of my boys had a rough day. They simply did not want to listen. The good news was, they weren’t disobeying me, but rather they were disobeying baker Steve. These kids have such little respect for baker Steve which makes him very sad and I hate to see.

                Steven and I were baking bread today and while we were dividing them into individual buns, a couple of the kids were playing soccer nearby and came very close to knocking over a bunch of bread. Not only was it a little annoying, but bread is Steve’s passion. Anything that comes to bread he takes personally. So he kindly asked the kids to play on the other side of the building which they did. But 5 minutes later, they were right back over. So he asked them to play outside which they just refused to do. I finally asked them to leave and to listen to Steven and they immediately left and didn’t come back. However, once I finished helping Steven, I went back to the house. But as soon as I did, the kids came right back and started annoying Steven.

                It makes it so much harder for Steven because not only is he not used to dealing with kids, but he doesn’t speak but a few words of Spanish. So he just talks to the kids in English even though they don’t understand. So finally, Steve took the ball from them and locked it up (good for him). But then again later, another boy came over and started flattening the bread and messing them up. Steven caught him and told him to stand in the corner for 10 min. Which even in English, the child understood, because Steven walked him over to the corner and said “Aqui, diez minutes” (here, 10 minutes). But the child (Guillermo), just turned, looked at Steven and ran away.

                Steven talked to me later about all that happened. So I apologized and told him that I would take care of it and those two boys would get punished. Later on, I sat down with each of those boys and had a long heart to heart with them. I explained that it hurt Steven and they need to listen and respect him. Both of them seemed to listen and understand very well.  So apparently, individually, they went to Steven and apologized for how they acted. Which was great because I didn’t even ask them to do that! Steven really appreciated it and now he is happy.

                They night ended with Eric and I making soup with noodles and carrots in water. However, before we served the food, I remembered that Southern had sent me Mckay’s vegetarian Chicken broth! MMMMMMMM it was soooo yummy! The kids loved the taste too! They had never tasted that before. So it was a nice treat for everyone. The night concluded with a showing of the lion king in English. We gave them the option of watching another cartoon in Spanish, but they said they’d rather watch the lion king, even if it was in English.

You stay civilized……planet earth!!!

Daddy who?

Friday November 30, 2012

                Well, today is Friday and I returned to Familia Feliz on Tuesday after I was held up in La Paz for a few days due to there being a lot of rain in Rurre. My flight from Miami landed sunday morning at 3 am in La Paz where I planned on getting a few hours of sleep before i purchased a ticket to Rurre. However, when I asked about a ticket, they said that no flights were going in or out of Rurre for a few days due to heavy rainfall they were having. Rurre is just now entering the summer which is also the rainy season. Hence it is super hot all day, or it is raining all day. Anyway, this left me in a little bit of a predicament as I had no plans to stay in La Paz. So i decided that I would call Dr. Patty and see if he would let me stay at his house again which was of course no problem.

                Fortunately I was only there for 2 nights before I was able to catch a flight to Rurre. During that time, I also got another opportunity to shadow him in his office. While i was waiting in the airport, I met 2 young tourists who were heading to Rurre for a few days. I talked with them for awhile and found out that they were from Australia. They also didn't know much about Rurre, so like a pro, I was able to tell them all about the small town and the best places to go for certain things. Then again on the plane, I met a Spanish woman who didn't know english or Rurre, and I wasable to help her as well. So that was pretty exciting and made me feel good about myself.

                When my plane landed and I stepped outside, I immediately felt the heat sweep over me like a constant blanket consuming my body. At the airport waiting was Joy, Eric, Lizelle, and her sister. Later that evening, I found out that there was a new kid on campus who had came that very day. This boys' mom brought him and was still on campus, but this boy has some terrible gashes and wounds on his legs. All of which were oozing and clearly painful.  As it turns out, he has an immune deficiency problem which causes any small scrape to become like that. When I came into the house to witness all of this, I was wearing surgical scrubs. This obviously gave me a free pass to pretend like I knew what I was doing while examining his legs. My diagnosis: His cuts looked yucky and he needed help. Of course since I'm a missionary, I didn't charge them for my services and my diagnosis.

                The thing is, we are assuming that the mother is neglectful to her son (Edwin) at home and is a little bit of a floosy. She acted very nice and caring around us and was very convincing, however, Missy was not convinced. Around 11:30 pm, the mother decided to leave her son with us to help take care of. But as she was leaving, she came up to me and said that she wants to leave her son in my care because she said that I can take good care of him (after seeing me look at his legs (even though I didn't really do much)). However, ironically, I didn't quite understand her, so as she is asking me to take care of her son, I am asking for a translation.

                The next day, Wednesday, I finished unpacking and cleaning my room. But later that afternoon, Eric and I moved my bed and several of my things from my house to his as I will be living with him, Juan, and Emmy for the summer.

                School ended a few days after I left which brings about many changes for the summer. Almost all of the kids have left to either their parents or extended family who are "willing" to take care of them for a few months while school is not in session. Furthermore, I will be living with Eric and his family and the only 8 boys (besides Missy's 8 kids, and Joys, 5 kids) left (which is a combination of my house and Eric's house, and thee new boy). Furthermore, Juan and Emmy are leaving for a month on vacation to visit their families. So that leaves only Eric and I to be daddy and daddy for this 8 boys. Which of course brings it's worries because the cook is gone for the summer and Emmy is leaving, sooooo what do we do about food? Fortunately, there are a few girls left here over at the girls dorm and a deal has been made for them to help us out a little. Spoiled? I think yes.

                Thursday, I pretty much just baked bread all day with Steven, that was my day.

                Friday, Eric and I woke up early this morning and went into town as early as possible so we could get a little faster internet (because when there are more people, the internet slows way down). We didn't spend too much time in town because it wasn't our day off and we wanted to help out around the village. Now it is pouring down rain and I am about to go play some soccer! Go figure right?

Saturday December 1, 2012

                Today was my first Sabbath back and my first Sabbath of the summer. It’s amazing how much smaller the congregation is when 70 or so kids simply disappear! The service was very basic with lots of singing and a reading of “My Story Hour”. Greatest books ever! That afternoon, I read my bible, played with the kids, took them behind campus to swim and enjoyed the beautiful Sabbath day we were having. Tonight was a big night because Juan and Emmy headed out on their vacation to Santa Cruz for a month. This is a little nerve racking because that leaves only Eric and I. So now we shall see how good of parents we truly are! We closed the Sabbath with the “rounda” worship, then a video about Sampson and Deliliah.

Sunday Dec. 2, 2012

                Our first day as parents. We both woke up around 6:30 not knowing if we would need to cook breakfast or not. We had heard that maybe the girls dorm would be cooking for us, but there was a little miscommunication. As it turns out, they are! But unfortunately only for breakfast. So it is up to Eric and I to cook for lunch and supper. After we had breakfast, we had the kids do all their laundry and clean their rooms.

The new boy Edwin is having a little bit of a hard time getting used to being told what to do. So we have had to punish him a few times. But what is super annoying about him, is once he is punished, he starts screaming and throwing a tantrum. He also starts fake crying and moaning loudly the entire time so that everyone around him is miserable.

The biggest issue we have had to deal with so far is Moises. Moises is one of Eric’s kids and is one of the hardest to control. He can be very sweet, but whenever anything happens to him, he transforms into this angry “need revenge” boy. He will punch and kick and cry. Whatever it takes to get even. He also has a slight mental disability and speech impediment. So one night, David (another one of Eric’s boys) had picked some mango’s and had them in his bed, then Moises decided that he wanted a few without David’s permission. David tried calling for Eric and I but we didn’t hear him, so Guillermo (my boy) took matters into his own hand and took the mangos away from Moises. Then the transformation happened and he began to punch Guillermo, then Guillermo returned with one powerful punch to Moises’ head which sent him crying. By now, Eric and I were on the case and separated them and talked with each one individually and issuing punishments to each.

Anywho, after breakfast, while the kids were doing their chores, Joy stopped by and asked if I would drive France into town and get another tire on the truck fixed because it popped. So I left around 11:30, and took care of everything in town with nothing too much exciting happening. Now I am back and trying to fight the heat as I simply lay here sweating!

                You stay civilized…..planet earth!!

Thanksgiving

Saturday Nov. 10, 2012

                Ok guys, I have a confession, I have gotten behind on some of my blogging. I have wanted to write a couple of things down for you but I have been busy and have procrastinated. So, for the past few days I have been traveling all over Bolivia working on getting everything cleared for me to surprise my mom. My dad and I have been scheming for several weeks now trying to work everything out for me to be with them for thanksgiving. One of the big reasons we wanted to make this happen was because both my brothers and their wives were able to clear their schedules for Thanksgiving. So as far as my mom knows, everyone will be together except for me. Little does she know.

                Anyway, working all this out has been very confusing and challenging. For one, my passport is in Santa Cruz because they are working on my year long visa, and second, the "most reliable airline" in Bolivia is Amaszonas, however, they have been cancleing all kinds of flights because all but 1 of their planes are out of commission. They are having to rent planes from another airline. However, the other airline is not happy with the arrangment and is talking about boycotting the agreement. It is a completely messy and scary situation. So I have had to reschedule flights like crazy and get in touch with people I have never met in Santa Cruz to pick up my passport.

                Fortunately, our flight from Rurre to La Paz flew out that day (although delayed by 4 hours). This was a hard time for Erin because she is leaving Bolivia for good. We were able to work it out so we could fly out together. Once we landed in La Paz, Erin caught a taxi to a guy's house named Dr. Willy Patty (again, a man we have never met). While she did that, I got onto another flight 2 hours later to Santa Cruz. During that 2 hour wait, I looked up online "the cheapest hostel in Santa Cruz" so I could make a reservation.  On the flight, I met this man who spoke 8 different languages. He was from a country near Germany I believe, but has lived in Santa Cruz working for his government giving aid to the Bolivians. We talked about a lot of different things including the unfortunate outcome of the recent elections, and religion. He is not a religious man and does not believe in God, but I was able to talk to Him about how I was a missionary, so that was nice. On the plane, something really weird happened. It almost felt like a vein in my forehead just suddenly popped! It hurt so bad and I had to tell him to stop talking because I was in so much pain. It was kinda funny though to hear his reaction. He was extremely worried and sort of panicked for me. But the pain subsided and I was fine.

                Once I landed in Santa Cruz, I caught a taxi to my cheap hostel. The room actually wasn't too bad. It had a fan and wifi internet. Pillows were like sleeping with a slab of asphault, but it was a bed. That evening before I went to bed, Victor (the man with my passport) called me and wanted to drop it off to me that night which was perfect with me because this whole trip revolves around me getting my passport. My flight the next day back to La Paz was not until 2:20, so I woke up at 8 and was going to try and find a market to buy some gifts and other things. The market I found put all others to shame. It was massive! It was like a whole other city of made of tarps and carts with everything you can imagine on them. It was like a maze walking around. It's a good thing I love exploring because I literally got lost inside this market and was sure how to get out. So I just kept walking and finally found the main street again.

                I then went back to the hostel (which the fact that I could find it again was a miracle) to wait for a taxi. While I was waiting, I got to talking with the guy at the front desk for probably 30 minutes. Turns out he is very familiar with Adventists and all of our beliefs. He is not an Adventist himself, but his sister is. So it was very interesting talking with him.

                Then I went back to the airport to catch another flight back to La Paz. Once I landed in La Paz, I caught a taxi to where Dr. Willy's house was. I started talking to my taxi cab driver and at one point I mentioned that I was a missionary here for 9 months. He then immediately asked, "Oh, are you an Adventist?" So I guess that means Adventists are doing a pretty good job down here in Bolivia. I got to the house were only Erin and the maid were. The parents were still at work. Erin and I were both very hungry for dinner though so I took her to a Thai restaurant that was about a 20 minute walk away (remember, I have become pretty familiar with La Paz and know where a lot of things are because of how much time Eric and I spent here earlier).

                The next morning was Sabbath. I was excited because I was going to see a friend that I had made here earlier in La Paz, Alfonzo.  This morning was the first time I got to actually meet the Patty's. They are extremely nice and generous people. They had a wonderful breakfast made for us and even when I was full, Dr. Willy asked if I wanted more, then when i told him that I was full, he just shook his head and said "No, you need more". Once we were ready to leave for church, Erin, who was wearing a nice skirt, a nice North Face jacket, and sandals was stopped my Lidia (Mrs. Patty). She asked Erin if she had shoes for church, and when Erin said she didn't, Lidia proceeded to get Erin some heels and a new top of some sort. We then were off to church in the family car. One thing I like so much better about Bolivia is that at church, it actually looks like they are at church. Almost every man is dressed in a suit and tie, and every woman is in a dress or something else that is appropriate for church. The other thing that I like better, is that every is so nice and welcomes you. Young, Old, and all in between, want to welcome you and know about you and generally care what you have to say.

                After church we headed back to the house where I had my first test of willingness at their house. For lunch, they cooked some rice, mashed potatoes, and a bunch of meat. Shortly before we were about to eat, Lidia asked if I ate meat and I said meekly that I didn't. Then she went into a little bit of a panic because she wanted to make sure I had good food to eat. So she made me 3 fried eggs, and a fresh salad which was mostly carrots with a big slab of cheese on it, and I could also eat the rice and potatoes. This wouldn't sound to bad, but here in Bolivia I have tried to cut out cheese and Eggs because of the high risk of Salmonella. We are pretty sure that is how Eric got Salmonella from eating eggs. However, I really like eggs, so that wasn't the hardest part. The hardest part was the BIG salad she made me which was loaded up with carrots (which my mouth thinks is poison), a massive chunk of cheese, and no dressing because Bolivians do not use dressing. But I was able to mix the carrots into my potatoes and eat most of the salad dry. They did offer me however some olive oil which I knew was a sacrifice. Olive oil in Bolivia is a very expensive thing because all of it has to be imported. I used a little but didn't want to be a typical American fatty and load it up.

                After lunch, we took some pictures and then took a glorious nap. Oh, and by the way, ever since I got to La Paz, my thighs and hamstrings have been so achy. They have been hurting all day long. It's not just when I stand, but when I sit too. It's completely weird. But anyway, Erin woke me up around 6:30 and said that we were going to an afternoon church service. So I quickly got dressed and we headed out. The 3 girls, Lidia, Erin, and Ebony (another young missionary staying here for a few days) went to another church while Dr. Patty, me, and his 2 sons John and Sergio, went to another church. Once we got to our church, Dr. Patty had to leave to a meeting, so I wasn't exactly sure what to do. But one man in the church saw me and asked if I would talk with his daughter. I wasn't exactly sure why he was wanting me to talk to her but sure, why not. So turns out his daughter was like 15 and he wanted her to practice English with me. So I talked to her in Spanish while she talked to me in English. So that was good practice for both of us. We talked for about an hour until she had to leave and then I just sat out on the porch of the church for about an hour and a half waiting for Dr. P to be done.
                Afterwards it was about 9:30 and I figured that we would just go back to the house. But nope, we went off to the mall and met the girls at an arcade. Then we ate and had some ice cream before we left around 11:30.

                Sunday was sort of a dead day. We literally just laid around the house not doing a single thing. It was quite the wonderful experience to do nothing and relax! But later that afternoon we tried to go to the market and find some gifts for friends and family. But unfortunately everything was closed because of the Strong catholic presence here and it being Sunday.

                Monday, we woke up super early and tried to hit the market. We have heard that that is the best time to go. So we left the house around 7:30 and went to the market, but it actually wasn't as good as we were hoping. But we were able to walk around long enough and find what we needed to before we left.

                Again, I'm sorry I don't have more details, I keep procrastinating on my blog and by the time I start blogging, I have forgotten all the funny and interesting stuff that has happened.

                Wednesday morning, Erin headed out. So I woke up at 6:30 to say by to her. Afterwards, I walked to Dr. Patty's office to shadow him for awhile. I thought he was just a general dentist so I figured that I would not need to stay long. But he is actually an oral surgeon and does all sorts of implants and extractions. It was very interesting to watch. But I have to say, Bolivians are kind of gross, at least by American standards. For example, dentists do not wear gloves. They just work in someones mouth unprotected, which is gross in itself, but then they work on the next patient without washing their hands. They also use the same tools without cleaning them (unless blood gets on them) they just don't care and it doesn't bother them. The patients also all share the same rinsing cup without it being changed or cleaned. So that was quite interesting to watch. I almost wanted to say something, but thats just me being a gringo and not being used to this culture.

                Later that evening, Dr. P asked me to go to his sons' concert and video tape the whole thing. I gladly said yes, especially because I thought that the program was only going to be an hour or so. Turns out, we had to be there at 5, when the program started at 7:30 to help set up. So that was a little bit of a bummer but no big deal. But then I found out that his kids arn't even in the program, they are just stagehands. Good news is, the first half of the program was very interesting. It was a bunch of cultural dances and costumes and fun stuff like that. But the second half was nearly unbearable. It was little kids singing.......nope, nope, can't say singing, so I shall say shouting bloody murder. It was cute, but I felt like my ears were bleeding. Then, finally, 3 hours later, the program was over. So I had sat in that auditorium seat for 5 and a half hours and it was now 11:15 on a school night! But oh well, you only live once right?
                Thursday, my big travel day. I was up at 5:15 so I could pack my bags and get ready to leave by 6:30. My flight leaves La Paz at 10, and the airport is only 30 minutes away, but I did not want to take any chances. Especially with Bolivian travel, where nothing is reliable. Fortunately, Dr. P told me that I could catch a bus for 3.5 B's instead of a taxi for 60 B's. Thats a big difference. And it's a very good thing I did too because once I got to the airport, they had 3 taxes that they imposed on me which ended up being over 500 B's. I BARELY had enoug money to cover it. So now I currently have $15 to my name and nothing more. I now sit here in Lima Peru waiting for my final flight to Miami. So excited!

                After landing in Miami Fl, I stayed in a hotel, then woke up the next day to catch a shuttle to West Palm Beach airport where I waited for my dad for a couple hours for his flight to arrive. Once he got there, we said our hello’s and then came the fun part. My mom was to come to the airport planning only to pick my dad up. However she has no idea that I will be there too. So my dad and I went outside but I waited a little farther up the road and pretended to be a hitchhiker. So I was obviously looking a little sketchy with a beard, and some pretty raggy clothes and a hoody. So my mom showed up and picked up my dad, my dad then got into the drivers seat and started to drive away. But then he saw this “hitchhiker” and told my mom that he had met me on the plane and that I was a nice guy. So he started to pull over to ask where I was going. This was obviously a little nerve racking to my mom but she decided to trust my dad in picking up this homeless looking man. When the car pulled up, I turned around and my mom looked directly at me and was completely blown away! She had no clue that I was going to be there. She could not stop touching her face and saying “Oh my goodness!” It could not have worked out more perfectly!

 

                From there, we went back to the condo, and vacation began. I have taken a complete break from blogging this week but I will give you the highlights of what happened.

-          Friday: my dad and I arrived

-          Saturday: Robert and Shellie arrived

-          Sunday: Ryan and Liz arrived

-          Monday: Kristen Long (my girlfriend) arrived and my brothers, my dad, and I played 18 holes.

-          Tuesday: All 8 of us went to a par 3 course and had 2 foursomes.

-          Wednesday: shopped for a few things for Bolivia, beach day

-          Thursday: Thanksgiving!! Had AMAZING food! And baked bread for everyone.

-          Friday: relaxed by the pool and began to pack up

-          Saturday: left back for Bolivia

This vacation has been absolutely amazing! I love being with my family and girlfriend. I have been able to rest, catch up, and most importantly, eat amazing food! Drinks with ice, air conditioning, showers…..wowie! It has been absolutely wonderful! It will definitely be hard to go back, but where the Lord leads, I go. Sometimes hard, sometimes easy. Unfortunately, this is one of those times where it is hard. I will hopefully be back to my normal day of posting blogs (Mondays). Sorry for the lapse in updates.

You Stay Civilized…….Planet Earth!