Town

Sunday April 31, 2013

    Today Eric and I had a little extra fun planned. This morning, Eric and I brought all 5 of of our boys into town to go to the pool! Since the other boys get to go home, we firgured it was the least we could do to make sure that these 5 had some sort of fun for vacation.

    Loading up the truck, it looked as though we were going to be pretty packed once again. Not only, did we have a lot of people going into town, but we were bringing 4 dogs as well. The plan was to either sell them or just give them away to lower the population of animals on campus. Anyway, 3 of them were large puppies that were extremely cute. So naturally Eric and I each wanted to hold one on the drive in. This was working out all good and well until we were about 5 min. outside if town. Thats when it happened. My puppy calmly opened his mouth, and shot dog vomit EVERYWHERE! It was all over the boys beside me, all down my arms and legs, and all over the floor of the truck. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that since we were in the back of the truck, the wind took all of it and dispersed it all over.

    This was so gross! As all of it was starting to bake onto my skin in the sun, Eric being the great friend he is gave me a nice little reminder. "Hey dude, you know that since they are puppies, and all their vomit was white, it was probably all breastmilk." GROSS!!! So now, I have dried dog breastmilk that has been partially digested, all over my arms and leg. No biggie. Fortunately, today was a town day and we were taking the kids to the pool so I could shower.

    Getting to the pool, before we brought all the kids in, we went and spoke with the owner to see if they were open and to see if we could bring our kids in. He was a little reluctant and then gave us a very stern warning/lecture about our boys. Apparently our boys have been here several times in the past, and every single time, they have pee'd in the pool and the owner has to clean it all out. He told us that this was the boys' very last chance. If a single one of them pee'd in the pool, we were never allowed back.

    Relaying this back to them, the boys understood and were ready for some swimming! It is actually an extremely nice swimming pool. It looks just like a resort and even has a loose tucan that walks around the pool guarding it. For the first couple of minutes, Eric and I sat in some lawnchairs watching the boys as they swam. We felt like such parents. But then parent time was over and it was time to be a kid again, so we jumped in and started throwing the kids all over the place.

    After the pool, I had some things that I needed to do online right at 2:30. So while Eric took the boys with Juan and Emmy to a soccer field, I went online. But as soon as my meeting started, the power in the entire city went out! Blah. When the power came back on a little later, my meeting was already over.

    Good news was, today something very special happened. I got to skype my grandmother and my aunt and uncle! She has been reading my blogs and we have talked on the phone a couple of times, but never face to face. After a couple of failed attempts, we finally got it to work. As soon as my grandmother saw me and the jungle that is growing on my face, she couldn't believe it was me. So after a DNA test, fingerprint scan, and the use of voice recognition software, she finally believed me that I indeed was her grandson. The 4 of us had a really good talk and as usual, my family is extremely supportive of me.

Monday April 1, 2013

    Today I got a little bonus. I got to go to town again! The main reason was to take the truck in so they could fix a couple more things on it. We had to move our appointment to today due to the vacation of the students. Originally, they said that it would take 3 days. However, after we dropped it off, they said that it would be ready tomorrow at 5 which was great news.

    But as usual, it was not a simple drop the truck off and go. Other volunteers came in as well which always means a full day trip. When everyone split to run their errands, I went to the bank to withdrawl the last $250 of the donation money for the truck. However, after I put my card in, put my pin # in, selected withdrawl, and put in the amount, the machine flashed the word processing just before it shut off on me. I had the fear of death instantly for a few seconds until the machine turned back on, and gave me my card back. However, I was still a little worried because I recieved no reciept and no money even after the machine said it was processing. I thought maybe the machine took the money out of my account and didn't give me the cash.

    Fearing the worst, I went into the bank to talk with someone. As I walked in, I came into contact with a soldier holding a shotgun who asked what I needed. So I told him the story and he sent me upstairs. Once I got there, a lady behind a desk asked me why I was there and so I then told her the story as well. She proceeded to tell me that there was nothing that they could do and that the bank was out of money.

    Having no luck at the bank, I ran to get internet to see if money had actually been withdrawl from my bank account. And sure enough, $250 was withdrawn. Great. I then signed onto skype hoping my mom was on and could talk to me. Thank-goodness she was. So now, my mom and I went through the whole "push a bunch of numbers, listen to elevator music, and get transfered from person to person" routine. In the end, they said that we needed to wait 24 hours because sometimes the issue resolves itself. If when we came back tomorrow, there was still a problem, then an international claims dipute would have to be filed. Wow. So exciting. Good news is, that the person we spoke with had actually heard about many occassions where an international bank runs out of money. For me, thats the hardest part to understand, how a BANK can run out of money. Oh well.

    For the rest of the time in town, I simply sat in Ron's restaurant (Paititi) checking things online and talking to friends and family.
Tuesday March 2, 2013

    What do you know?!?! I get to come to town again today! But not until the afternoon. This morning we had a big staff meeting to discuss outreach programs, inreach programs, work programs, the website, the pathfinder camporee and various other things. That meeting went until 12:30. So it was quite the doosy. The bigger problem was, it was Juan and Emmy's day off so Eric and I needed to cook lunch. Fortunately, I was able to beg one of the girls to cook for us as well.

    After lunch, Gerry, Samuel, and I headed off to the chainsaw guy who we ordered all the framing for the house from. But he wasn't there and we didn't see our wood sitting out front which generally means that it's not done. So we went back to Familia Feliz empty handed.

    Back in the motherland of Familia Feliz, other volunteers loaded up in the truck and we were off yet again to town. The truck should be ready in the afternoon and I needed to check my bank statement to see if the charge went through.

    But before I did anything, Missy needed me to send a big bag of things to her sister Joy in La Paz who is about to go back to Canada for awhile. That process was a lot easier but longer than I expected. I ended up talking to the guy behind the counter about my time here in Bolivia and how I have been working at Familia Feliz. It's amazing that majority of the time, when I tell people that I work for Familia Feliz, they immediately get nicer and more open to helping. So appartenly FF. has a good reputation.

    After that, I went directly to internet to check my bank statement. With fingers crossed, I opened my bank statment and sure enough, it had gone through. I wanted to get on skype with my mom, but she wasn't online so I had to send her an email saying that we needed to open up an international dispute claim.

    The rest of the day in town was claimed by internet, and running errands for Familia Feliz, including the building project across the river. Just as an update for that house, all the wood has been ordered and should be ready at the beginning of next week. We have a lot of the material needed to build, and we have spoken with the family and told them that they will need to get helpers to carry the wood up the mountain.

Wednesday March 3, 2013

    Now I know what you're thinking, what do I do in town today right? Well, surprisingly enough, I broke the trend and I stayed on campus today. I did some pretty interesting work today but unfortunately it is not a lot to tell.

    Today we dragged several bags of rice outside from the store room to spread it all out on tarps to dry in the sun. This is all the rice that we harvested from the choco over the past couple of weeks. So we have quite a bit to do. After the rice site in the hot sun for about 4 hours, we have to somehow get all of the dirt and leaves out of the grains before we can take it to the mill. Most of the time, when people do this, they just pick up a bucket full of rice, hold it up high, and pour it slowly and the wind will take the junk out. But no no no, thats that efficient. So we decided to give the wind a little help and brought our fan out there. This actually worked really great! As we pour the rice in front of the fan, it blew all the junk away.

    After we cleaned several bags of the rice, we had to put them back into bags and seal them in order to take them to the mill. Eric and I ended up working until about 7:40 pm just because of how slow the process is.

    A lot of people have asked me about Jenette and how she is doing. So I figured it would be a good time to give an update on her. Just looking at her, she looks a lot better. One of the big things that is contributing to that is the 2 new volunteers that are living up there with her. They are dressing her nice and doing her hair and bathing her so she smells good. They are doing a great job at making her look and smell completely normal.

    As far as how she moves, she is now able to not only crawl, but she can support her own body weight while standing. She still cannot stand up by herself, but once we get her up, as long as she has something to hold onto for balance, she can stand there for a couple of minutes. The way she crawls is not the typical crawl on the knees and hands. No, Jenette has her own unique way. She kind of sits on the ground with one knee in the air, and when she wants to move, she uses her arms to push herself up, then uses her feet to push her forward. It is pretty interesting to watch.

    But overall, we are seeing really good improvement. She has a long way to go though. But all of the volunteers are doing a good job with her and we keep trying to encourage muscle development and walking.

    One other thing to note, is that the rest of the boys got back late in the evening from their break. This was good because classes started first thing in the morning.

Thursday April 4, 2013

    This morning I had several things that I wanted to start doing, however as soon as I had finished my breakfast, Mike showed up wanting some help with the electrical work. But that was fine with me because as always, I'm always up to continue learning new things.

    Today he wanted to wire Missy's house and install switches, lights, and outlets. Mike is very intelligent when it comes to electricity, especially when it comes to the physics aspect. He is very patient and does his very best to try and explain things very clearly to me so that I learn it very good. And something must have stuck, because today, I wired the bathroom and installed a lightswitch by myself! Boo yea!

    This afternoon for the work program, Eric and I took all of our boys plus a couple others out in front of Familia Feliz to machete. The entrance to Familia Feliz has become incredibly overgrown to the point that it's become hard to see our sign from the road. The grass and weeds look more like trees than schrubs.

    Even though it was difficult to keep the boys on task, we were able to get a fair amount done. The only bad news is that I got a blister almost immediately on my left hand. Just when I thought I had gotten all the "gringo-ness" out of my body, this happens. Well, I still just over a month to get the sissy out of me.

    To close out the day, I found out terrifying news.... I was on the schedule to give the adult Sabbath School this week! And let me remind you, here, giving the adult Sabbath School class is way more of a sermon than the actual sermon is because of all the kids. This immediately got me a little flustered. I had no idea what to talk about and how to prepare for it.

Friday April 5, 2013

    Today I had 2 main tasks on my plate. The first was to start preparing for Sabbath School, and the second was to bake bread for our outreach program tomorrow after church. Both of which are all day processes.

    Here's the deal with the bread. Eric has been put in charge of evangelism on Sabbath afternoons. So one idea that came up was baking a bunch of bread and then taking the boys out on the road, then going house to house singing songs and giving out bread.

    It has actually been quite awhile since I have made bread, but I was ready for it. No Problem. Since Eric had class in the morning, I spent the morning making the bread by myself and mixing everything up. Then in the afternoon, he helped me divide them and bake em' up.

    While waiting for the bread to rise, I was able to sneak in some Sabbath School preparation. Fortunately, Mike has a quarterly that is in English. That turned out to be a massive help to me. It atleast gave me a template to go off of. However, it is still pretty much a sermon because no one else has the quarterly here.

    When Eric and I were finishing baking the bread, we were just doing our usual talking and making plans for next year when we are housemates at Southern. Talking about the things we're gunna put in our apartment, how much fun we're gunna have, the double dates we're gunna go on, the whole 9 yards. Just good guy bonding time.

    One thing to note on the day, further confirming my new found closeness with nature. Tonight, for dinner Emmy made some lemonade for us. But shortlt before I drank mine, I found 2 dead ants, a floating mosquito, and a fluttering/swimming moth in my cup. Hm, that's interesting. Oh well, all I needed to do was push them to the side of my cup and get them out real quick. Good as new.

Saturday April 6, 2013

    So today was the big day. The little time that I had to prepare for my sabbath school sermon was up. So after everyone sang for awhile, we divided into our classes. Fortunately, i was able to snag Samuel to translate at the last second.

    After I was finished, I didn’t feel like it went TOO well. I thought it actually went pretty bad. But Eric and a few others told me differently. But I dunno, I think they could be lying. And as always, when I started talking, I was completely dry, but afterwards, I was completely soaked. When Missy walked in and saw me, she was blown away at how much I sweated.

    After sabbath school was over, I was able to sigh a breath of relief. The hard part was over. Now all I had to do was the opening prayer for the divine service. But RIGHT before we walked upfront during the prayer song, I was told that I needed to do the welcom (in Spanish) and I was also responsible for the closing song. Are you kidding me?!?!? I don’t even know a single song in spanish. Wouldn’t have mattered if I did anyway because they assigned me a song to sing....never heard of it. So I recruited one of the boys to help me.

    Then right after the closing song, Juan nudged me and told me to have the closing prayer in spanish. Then I said no, you do it. But he nudged me again and said no no go ahead. To which again I said, no Juan, you pray. So he finally stepped up and prayed. Phew. So stressful.

    But after church is when things started going uphill. Right after church, Jerry and his wife Jenny invited us over to their house for lunch along with a couple of other volunteers.

    You know those girls that you can just tell that they are good cooks, thats Jenny. And I sure was right. She cooked us an amazing meal. But that wasn’t even the best part. After we ate, we all lounged around their house socializing and listening to Sabbath music. It reminded me so much of home. Where everyone gets together, eats a lot of food, the spends time together all with music playing softly in the background. Wowie.

    After we ate, it was time for our social outreach program where we take the boys out to sing songs and hand out bread to several of our non adventist neighbors. But we came into a problem. Juan wanted to go, and needed to because he knew all the songs and where people lived. But he didn’t want to leave Emmy at home alone with all the little ones and trouble makers who were not allowed to go. So I stayed back to watch the rest of the boys with Emmy.

    I was a little bummed at first, but it actually turned out to be pretty fun. Shortly after everyone else left, I pulled out my violin and started playing a bunch of songs while the rest of the boys sang along. They were fascinated by the violin and hearing one being played. I also brought out my computer and showed them tons of pictures from the States of my Family, Europe, Africa, and even scuba diving pictures. They were totally into it and wanted to watch all of my movie clips that I had. After the pictures, I ended up spending a lot of time with Armando and talking with him.

    Later in the evening, Eric had been planning to do a bonfire and roasting some bread dough. So we had a big night with all the kids roasted bread dough and drinking hot chocolate. I don’t know if they have ever had a social like that before or not. But they all seemed to love it.

You Stay Civilized.....Planet Earth!!!!

Electrical work, hot shower, and twister

Sunday March 24, 2013

New ball from my mom

As you know, I don't normally blog about my days off in town. However, today had kind of a funny situation. This past month and this next month coming up are some of the busiest months out of the year for Rurre. During these 2 months, Rurre gets swamped with Isreali's.

Before I continue my story, when did they become Isreali's? Because everytime I refer to them, I want to call them Isrealites. It keeps messing me up!

Anyway, because of the lack of workers at Narguila's and the unbelievable rudeness of most all Isreali's, Narguila's doesn't even turn their Wifi on. This is a problem, because we pretty much only come to town for internet. So this forced Eric and I to go to the other few places in town with Wifi. All of which were closed. This put Eric and I in a predicament because we knew that we were going to be online all day long with can get expensive if we are paying 8 B's per hour.

However, we came up with a genius idea. We decided that we could go to one of the only hotels in town that has Wifi and get a room just for the day with no intention of staying the night. In the end, we paid 30 B's each, and sat there in that room with beds and a fan for about 10 hours. That works out to be 3 B's per hour for Wifi WITH a fan, a bed, and a bathroom. Kind of a good deal.

Later that evening, we were planning on going with our moto taxi buddies from last week at about 10 pm. However, around 9:15, Missy signed onto FB because she came into town to run a couple quick errands. Score! Free ride back to FF. Great day off.

Monday March 25, 2013

 Mike being here has good things and bad things about it. One bad thing is, he likes to work..... a lot. While everyone is on breaktime, he wants to keep working. This is a really good trait and I'm jealous of it. Since I'm working with him though, that makes me work a bit more than normal as well. Which again, isn't a bad thing.....usually. But fortunately, today it rained a lot. This made it so we had to work inside.



Gamenight with twister from Ryan and Liz

We started at Missy's old house where he and Samuel (the Venezualen) is staying. What we were doing was installing switches and lightbulbs and wireing the house correctly. Because before, it was wired so poorly (Bolivian stlye). This was actually kind of cool because I have never done electrical work before and now I was learning. Mike is actually really smart with electrical stuff. He spent awhile explaining the physics and graph formations of the electrical currents.

There is no doubt that I slowed him down today. But that was because he wanted to teach me by "trial by fire". He explained what we were doing and how to do it, then he would have me explain it back to him and then try it myself. Of course, that always meant that he had to go back and fix my mess. But I started getting it after awhile. I still need to do a few more houses before I actually feel comfortable doing it by myself though.

Tuesday March 26, 2013

 This morning was the final day that Missy's mom and grandfather were here in Rurre. They had a flight out today at 5:00 pm. But before they left, Pastor Moore wanted to have one last meeting with the younger volunteers about relationships and sex. So during the school's recess, we all met in the church and had one final chat. It has been great having them here and they are great people.

After the service, Mike and I went to the tool shed to work on more electricity. It was actually pretty cool, I installed a new light with a switch almost all by myself! Only problem was, I wasn't able to work with him very much today because today is Tuesday, meaning it is Juan and Emmy's day off. So I needed to cook lunch for the kids before they got back from school. Then they also needed supervision afterwards.



Solar shower from Ryan and Liz

After lunch, Eric informed me of some interesting news. Apparently, there is a vacation from school starting tomorrow until next wednesday. He also told me that many of the kids would be going home for the week and going to come back for school. This, needless to say, sounds great to us! Just a short breather with a few less kids. So we will see how that turns out and if things actually happen according to plan.

Wednesday March 27, 2013

First thing we did this morning was to have a staff meeting to make sure that everyone knew what the plan was for the day and for the holiday break. For today, both Juan and Emmy had to go to town to run errands for our family and for the rest of Familia Feliz. This once again left Eric and I in charge of all the boys with no school. No Problem.

Fortunately, before Juan and Emmy left, she had made breakfast. So all Eric and I had to do was serve it and keep the kids in line. After breakfast, we had all the boys do their chores and laundry while Eric and I supervised while doing our laundry too. Our clothes are long overdue for a good scrubbing. Someway or another, the kids are always able to fly through their chores and not have any problems when they are motivated by the fact that they can play afterwards.

Before Emmy left, she asked Eric and I to make majalito (basically a sort of fried rice with french fries and other random goodness inside) for lunch today. Only problem is, this meal takes just about 2 hours to prepare. I wasn't too worried about making it, but rather the time because another big job that we were asked to do was to work a lot of the trench. But so far, our day is getting really full, really quick.

Eric and I could probably make our own cooking TV show now. We were dominating this majalito! Chopping and boiling and deep frying left and right. We had Jack Johnson and the Beach Boys playing while we cooked all while the kids were swimming. I think the food came out pretty great, little salty, but still pretty great.

Right after lunch, Eric and I wanted to rest for just a few minutes before we went out to start digging. But almost as soon as we went in our room, I heard some commotion outside and I went out to see what was going on. Apparently, Moises and little Miguel were punching each other while they, and a few others, were finishing up eating. Then the parent inside of me rose up. I started off by telling them that fighting was NEVER ok. Punching and kicking never solve anything and if they have a problem they needed to talk to me or Eric. They said yes teacher, but I wasn't quite done with em yet. I asked them if they thought Jesus liked it when they fought? The whole table got really quite and a few of them looked at me and said no.

"Did Jesus ever punched or fought with anyone in his entire life?"

"No teacher."

" Then should we ever fight with each other?"

"No teacher."

As soon as I started talking about Jesus and asking them questions, it seemed to sink in pretty fast. It seemed as though the importance of the issue went up really fast. I then told them that there is actually a really interesting verse in the Bible that talks about fighting. They all perked up to see what I was gunna say. I told them about Matthew 5:39 where it says if someone hits us on one side of our face, we should turn the other side of our face to them. Anyway, I just thought that was kind of a cool story.

After a brief rest, I went out to start digging holes. Since it rained yesterday and it has been sunny today, It made the groud a lot easier to work with. The only issues I ran into were massive roots, and a massive ant that bit me.

Thursday March 28, 2013



Enjoying the hot water

This morning we were asked to attend a staff meeting. They warned us however that this was going to be a very long staff meeting and to bring our computers. When we got there at 8, Warren had a brief devotional then gave us the plan for the day. Basically, he gave us a few assignments to work on, and gave us all day to do them.

The only problem with that plan is that Eric and I were in charge of 5 boys as Juan and Emmy left at 3 am to take others to there homes for break. This schedule didn't leave us time to supervise them, or make them lunch. But we got super lucky when one of Missy's kids said that he was going to the Toma and could take our kids. That alone was an all day affair. So basically, Eric and I got a day off on campus. Not only did we get rid of our kids for the day, but the girls said that they would cook for us! Score!

The jobs that I was asked to work on was a work program layout, changing the website, and planning for the pathfinder camporee at the end of April. These things is what I pretty much worked on all morning. In the afternoon, I was finished with what I needed to do, so I grabbed a shovel and went to work on the never ending trench for awhile.

Now I have to make an apology. My brother and his wonderful wife Liz, sent me a package awhile ago that had a solar shower in it. It is basically just a bg that you fill with water, then set out in the sun for while to make the water hot. When I first saw it, I was just confused. I thought that was an incredibly random gift that I might use once just to say I did. Wrong.

I had actually forgotten all about it until yesterday. So technically, the first time I used it was yesterday, but I didn't set it out early enough and the water was just luke warm. But today, I had the bag sitting out all day and wowie, let me tell you, that shower was great! The water was so warm and it even had a good flow to it. The bag holds enough for 2 quick showers so Eric and I were able to both get a shower in before it ran out.

The only problem we will run into in the future is making sure no one can see us. Because here at FF, it is inappropriate for a guy to take his shirt off in public. And I'll tell you right now, I am NOT taking a shower witha shirt on. But other than that, amazing shower.

Later this evening, we also used another gift that my brother sent me. Twister! The kids here (and even some of the volunteers) had never even heard of that game. So tonight, we whipped out the game and popcorn and had an evening of fun. It almost felt like a saturday night.

Friday March 29, 2013

Today, Eric and I got a miniature day off. Early this morning, he, Juan, and I went up the road and talked with a chainsaw guy who sells wood for posts and houses and any other kind of boards you need. So we went to him and ordered all the posts and frames that we will need to build that ladies house across the river. The ball is finally rolling.

After that, Warren, Eric, and I wanted to go into town, then cross over the river and look for this ladies house to see the grounds and what we will be working with when we begin construction. But by the time we got to town, it was lunch time. So of course we are going to eat! We actually got to go to Ron the bakers new restaurant. Ron is the relgious baker that i've talked about who sells brownines and banana bread in town. The restaurant was super good! I had a carrot burger and fries and was pretty full afterwards.

Anyway, after eating, we made the trek over to San Buena (the other side of the river where the lady lives). Once we got to the other side however, there were no moto's that could take us up there as it was siesta time. Not a problem with me though. I'm all about walking in the hot sun in order to save a few pennies. I was a little nervous though, because out of the 3 of us, I was the only that had ever been to her house, and that was only once. But I was able to get us there with no problems.

When we got up the mountain to her house, we found Selena, Bismark, John Alex, and their 2 older sisters. The little ones were very excited to see us and kept giving us hugs all over the place. The mom of course wasn't there however as she was off selling ice cream.

After getting our measurements, we headed back down the mountain and back to the docks. Fortunately, Warren decided that he would let Eric and I have a few minutes online before we ran a couple errands and went back. This gave us just enough time to check our facebook's, check our mail, and see what is happening in the 1st world countries.

Saturday March 30, 2013

This morning, Eric and I were supposed to be in charge of the sermon. However, since there were so few people on campus (due to the vacation), we thought it would be a great idea to go up to the church up the road. This turned out to be a great idea as Samuel (the Venezualan volunteer) has been doing a week long revival with them, and they had asked us to attend church with them anyway.

The good news was that it got us out of doing a sermon. But the bad news was, we had to leave Familia Feliz at 8:30 am in order to be at their early service as well. But thats a small price to pay to get out of sermon duty.

The church is so great. It's a very small area in someones backyard. Half of it is covered by a roof while the other half is covered by a tarp. They are a very small congregation but are very devout. One lady who had to have been 60 got up for special music and sang maybe 3 notes on tune. But no one laughed, no one made fun, it was actually very nice and allows you to really focus on the words that are being sung.

Their service is a very on the spot kind of service. For example, when we got there this morning, they asked if Warren would give the sermon. When it was time for special music, they didn't have anything planned, they just got up front and asked if anyone would like to come up and sing or something. Then, 10 minutes before he had to do it, they asked Eric if he would give his testimony on how he came to Bolivia, in spanish. And he did a very nice job.

After church, they asked us if we would stay there with them and have a pot luck. This completely blew me away because we showed up with about 30 people and we were just in the backyard of some family's wood hut. So somehow, this congregation came up with the time and money to cook us a fantastic meal.

Following a couple hour nap, and my 3rd solar shower of the week, Eric was put in charge of putting on a game night. So tonight we played probably 5 different games with a group of the kids. The ones that played seemed to really enjoy it. The plan is to get this to be a more frequent social activity on Saturday nights.

You Stay Civilized......Planet Earth!!!!



 

Dig Dig Dig, and goodbye Soledad

 

Eric's new desks

Monday March 17, 2013

Today starts off by telling about last night. A few weeks ago, I took a moto around town and asked him if he drove people to Familia Feliz and how much it costed. The reason I did was because Eric and I, at the latesest, have to be at the taxi station at 5 which is before the dinner restaurants open. Anyway, the guy told me that he did, and the price depended on the time we asked him. So I took his name and number.

Yesterday, I thought about calling this guy up and asking him how much it would cost to take us back around 8 at night. We talked on the phone for awhile, and he agreed to 10 B's per person. He also said that he had enough room on his bike for both Eric and I.

Eric and I were super excited because this was a great deal and we got to spend a couple more hours in town! However, once 8:00 came, and our guy showed up, he brought along a buddy because apparently he didn't REALLY have enough room for both Eric and I. Problem was, he neglected to tell his friend how much he agreed to take us for (10 B's each). As soon as the friend heard this, he said no no, only for 30 B's no less. This was dumb. So I started telling him that his friend agreed to take us for 10 B's each. The guy we called was just a young guy and was being quiet the whole time. His friend looked at him and told him to charge us 30 B's each. So our guy looked at me and said it's too far for 10 B's and he wants 30 B's. That's when I began to repremand him (I felt kind of cool getting after him in spanish). But they wern't budging.

By now, there were about 10 other moto taxi's gathering around waiting to see what happened. This only added to the peer pressure of the original guy we called. Eric spoke up and explained that why would we pay 30 B's for a taxi, when we can pay 40 B's and get a hotel with wifi for the night. When they still didn't budge, we got off and told them we wern't going anywhere. But as soon as we started walking away, some of the other moto's that were around drove up to us and said they'd do it for 20 B's each. This was still a pretty good bargain. Especially for a moto, AND at night. So right in front of the other guys, we jumped on with them and headed back to Familia Feliz.

Eric and I each had our own drivers and had conversations with them. Both were super nice guys. They also told us that if we ever needed a ride back to Familia Feliz late at night, they work until 3 am and would take us back for 20 B's anytime. This was really great because on occassion, this will allow Eric and I to stay a bit later.

This morning was also the beginning to a super good day. I got to go to town....again!! The reason I got so lucky was because of 2 donors from my church who have generously given money to fix our broken down truck. So this morning, I talked with Juan about it, then he and I went out and looked over the entire truck and made a list of all the things that NEED to be fixed in order for it to function properly. We then organized the list into what is most important and crucial down to the just important stuff. After we made the list, Warren wanted us to go ahead and go into town and get it taken care of ASAP. So thats what we did.

However, leaving familia feliz was a little more difficult than we anticipated. First, we had to start the big truck which I was going to drive, then take the keys out (with it still running) and use the keys for the other truck that is barely able to turn on. But when Juan tried to start it, nothing happened. So I had to pull behind the little truck and attach a tow rope to it, pull it out of where it was parked, remove the rope, pull in front of the little truck, reattach the tow rope to the front of the little truck and give it a running start. The only way to get the little truck started is if it is being pushed or pulled first. So after a little effort, we were finally able to get both trucks humming.

After arriving in town, we met with the mechanics, negotiated prices and what they were to fix. After that, I pretty much had another free day as I simply waited for eveyone else who came into town to take care of their things. All I needed to do was bring the truck in. But I'm not complaining with another town day!

Then, this evening, things got even better! Normally, dinner at our house is very small and not very good. But tonight, it was very good because it was baby Emily's birthday! Eric and I knew that it was going to be delicious because Juan and Emmy like to spoil Emily SO much. So tonight, we had soapa americano (ramen noodles), Bolivian cheese puffs, Bolivian pop corn puffs, and cake. Baby Emily was dressed up in a princess dress and had a big fancy party hat on. She was so cute. After all of this, we were quite full which was a nice change.

Tuesday March 18, 2013

This morning I was awoken by lumber yard workers showing up at our house asking for me. As I have said before, I have been put in charge of a building project for a very poor lady with 7 children who live in the boonies. However, after talking with a construction worker here at Familia Feliz, he suggested that we build with wood instead of brick. I was totally open to the idea as it would be cheaper, easier, and just as durable. However I have never worked with wood. Just brick. So I had no idea what size boards we needed or how much. But the volunteer said he would help me figure that out before he left to visit another location. Little did I know, he left yesterday or the day before and wasn't able to make the list before he left. So these workers drove here to Familia Feliz and wanted to know what I needed so I could put an order in, but I had no idea. Not the BEST start to the day. But fortunately, it was all up hill from here.

This morning, I dug a couple holes to repaird electrical posts that were knocked down during storms. Between holes, I had some talks with Warren and with Missy. But I couldn't work too long this morning because today is Juan and Emmy's day off. Which you know what that means......Chad's cooking for the house. So I decided to make lentils and rice and french fries. Not too difficult, but I'm still cooking for a lot of people.

After lunch, we rested a little bit, then went off for the work program. Eric and I took all of our boys plus a few others and went off the machete down jungle plants. We all had our "swords" and were chopping down 7 foot grass and weeds. This all went extremely well with no incident. Well, except for that one time where I chopped my shin with a machete. But hey... not to worry, it was just a flesh wound. Seriously though, it was just a little cut. So it's not a big deal grandma, you're grand baby will be just fine. ;-)

One other thing to note, Moises and Rodrigo, have pink eye and have not been allowed to go to school yesterday of today. So I also had to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't play in the dirt or play to much with the other kids.

Wednesday March 20, 2013

Wowie, time is really going by fast! Eric and I only have 8 more weeks here at Familia Feliz, and just over 10 weeks until we are back to our home's with friends, family, food, and all the other luxeries of life! It is so hard to believe that we have been here for 6 and a half months!

Anyway, today was another big work day for me. But it was a good work day. Mike came back today. He is the Austrian guy who helped out setting us up with electricity several weeks ago. But he wanted to come back and spend a couple more weeks finishing up here. So today, I spent a lot of time working on the long ditch in front of the church and measuring out a bunch of different distances on campus and figuring out where to plant posts. This afternoon, we were actually able to finally finish the ditch! So exciting! But there was one problem. Just today, they decided that they want to do a lot more underground wireing for the campus. So the trench in front of the church that we just finished is merely a sliver of what we now need to do. So for this, we will be using all of the kids for the work program to dig ditches for the underground wireing.

The other thing I did today was move about a 300 pound, massive, wood storage cubboard thing. It was in Warren's house, however, they wanted to move it to Missy's house. Not only did we have to lift this monsterous thing, but we had to finagle it around to get it through doors and into porches. This proved to be my workout not just for the day, but for the month!

Thursday March 21, 2013

Today was a little bittersweet. I started off today with shoveling in the never-ending trench. However, Juan was wanting to go in to pick up the truck as it was supposedly finished yesterday. Once again, the plan was for just me and Juan to go in real quick on the moto, pick up the truck, and come back. When will I learn, it is never that easy.

Before we left, one of the new girls heard that we were leaving and needed to do some food shopping. And Mike needed some supplies for installing switches in each of the houses. Warren also wanted us to take in all of the empty gas tanks and a couple of water jugs to be filled. All this led to us needing to take the big truck into town.

Because the mechanic is on the outskirts of town, we stopped there first to see if it was ready. And sure enough, it was ready! I almost couldn't believe it. The bad news was, that it was about 900 B's more expensive than what they had quoted us before. But the new parts looked really nice. I was so excited to drive it. However, I didn't have quite that much cash on me so I had to go to the bank and come back. Problem was, by the time we got into town, it was 11:00. So we only had 1 hour before everyone and their mother shuts down for siesta. From 12-3, good luck finding anything open. So while in town, we tried to go all over town looking for electrical parts and food. But lots of places were starting to close. Including the mechanic. This meant that we now needed to wait in town for a few hours until we could pick up the truck.

I ended up spending most of my time at an internet cafe not really needing to do anything. I also called up the pastor of the church here in town per request of Warren. Reason being, we were asked to do the entire service again this week. But Warren asked me to ask him if we could just do the church service and not Sabbath school. We also needed to get the number for the pathfinder director because they have asked us if Familia Feliz could host the camporee this year here on campus. Hopefully, after all this interaction, we will have a stronger relationship with the local church.

Once all the time was killed that was needed, we headed back to the mechanic to head out. This is when Chad began to get a little frustrated. As soon as we asked to pick it up, they said it wasn't ready. Apparently, there was one part that they forgot to fix, or they didn't fix it well enough. They proceeded to tell us that they needed another day. But we didn't want to keep going in and out of town for no reason. We also have to bring the truck back into town next week for further repairs with another specialty mechanic. So Juan and I decided to go ahead and take the truck now, and when we brought it in next week, we would also have these guys fix the problem.

Driving the truck back was amazing! This is the best it has ever run since I have been here. It felt like a Lexus! That is, minus the physical appearance of the truck. But the big shimmy is gone, and it shifts like a dream.

Later this evening, nothing too exciting happened. We had a 2 hour meeting with pastor Moore. Which was a little tough because we started at 7, and Eric and I hadn't eaten yet. By the time, that we got back to the house, all the kids were put to sleep, and there was a bowl of semola sitting on the table for us. Good news is, as soon as we walked into our room, we were greeted by the guests! Three big rats wondering around our room. I don't know why, but as soon as they saw Eric and I, they scurried off. Oh well, maybe next time we will meet some nicer rats.

Friday March 22, 2013

This morning was pretty intense for work. Mike, Soledad, and I were out at 7:45 with shovels in hand. Then we went hard at digging ALL morning. Dig Dig Dig. Nothing more. We were actually able to get a big chunk done. If we have another 2 or 3 days of that, I think we could be done! The big push for digging is that we want to finish in time for Mike to do all of the electrical work to all the houses before he leaves. There is so much going on here at Familia Feliz that it is sometime hard to keep them straight!

Saturday March 23, 2013

Great Sabbath. Once again, Familia Feliz was asked to do the sermon for the local church. So Warren was going to give the sermon (which was pretty much all we needed to do). This morning, Eric and I wern't sure if we wanted to go or not. I ended up deciding to go into town and take 2 boys with me while Eric stayed here.

We actually had a pretty large group that went into town. We had Warren, Missy, her mom, her grandfather, all of her kids, me, and 2 of my boys. Once again, our little truck was jam packed full of people. We couldn't use the big truck today because guess what. It's broken. Fortunately, it's just a tire that is messed up. But this seems to be a recurring thing. As soon as one truck is fixed, the other one breaks down. We have been blessed repeatedly by getting our trucks fixed in just the right time.

Town had a very nice service and Warren did a great job. The church is very friendly and very quaint. After the service, I met the leader of the Conquistadores (pathfinders) and spoke with him for awhile. We didn't talk too much about the actual pathfinder program, we talked more so about life and his family, whom I also met. But our conversation was cut a little short because we had to pull out and head back.

Once back at FF, we had yet another great lunch cooked by Emmy, then we did what the Sabbath was designed for....rested! YES! It had to be short and sweet though because we had another Bible study with Pastor Moore at 4. Today we spent almost 2 hours discussing the Trinity. He is a very wise man with very insightful information.

This evening was very bittersweet though. Tonight Soledad, the traveler from Argentina, left. She had to catch a bus to La Paz at 11 PM. We are all very sad to see her go. She was such a good worker and did very well with Jennette and was even helping Mike and I shovel. So the fact that she left was the bitter part of the night.

The sweet part of the night was that before she left, I wanted to give her a Bible and see if we had any other books written in Spanish for her. So I ended up giving her a spanish Bible, Eric got her a Desire of Ages, and someone else got her a Christ's Object Lessons. The main reason that I wanted to make sure she had a Bible was because she is not a Christian, much less an Adventist. However, she has had a couple Bible studies while here at Familia Feliz and has also fervently been trying to practice and figure out how to pray. She is 25 years old and has been very open to hearing about the Bible. After recieving these 3 books, she was extremely excited. She genuinely couldn't wait to start reading them. She has never had her very own Bible. And before she accepted them, she asked Eric and I to write her a message (me inside the Bible, and his inside the Desire of Ages). She must have said thank-you to me a hundred times. I was so happy to have met her and to have been able to give her a Bible. We have each others contact information so hopefully we will keep in touch.

You Stay Civilized......Planet Earth!!!!

Work and town!

Monday March 11, 2013




Rain got the best of this truck

This morning, Eric and I actually had to wake up at 6 am. The reason for this was because last night, we slept in town. We did this because these days, the truck doesn't stay in town very long. So if we want any kind of day off, we either have to pay for a taxi at 4:30, or spend the night. We both had a lot of things that we needed to do online so we decided to get a room at the only hotel in Rurre with wifi. Of course, since we had wifi, we took advantage of it and were up until 2 in the morning taking it all in.

This left us with only 4 hours of sleep. But not to worry, we are men, and internet in Bolivia drives men to do crazy things! Eric had to be back by 7:30 for class, and I needed to be back for......well, I didn't know what I was going to do today quite yet.

After getting back to FF, I layed down for about 30 minutes before I got up to make some bread. I figured on such little sleep, that would be a good job for today. However, as soon as I had finished mixing the bread, Warren came out and asked me if I could go with them to pick up some lumber to fix the bridge and to hold up electrical wire.

Yankin down coconuts

So we headed out to get the wood. The guy had everything we wanted all lined up ready for us to go. No problem. But on the way back, we made a few stops. The first was to pick coconuts and oranges. We ended up spending a lot of time yanking down 53 coconuts and picking 100 oranges. Totally worth it though because they are delicious!

After the coconut place, we stopped to see if the axe was ready. The new axe's were finance by the Howell's as well. But the thing with Axe's down here, they don't come with handles. So you have to custom make the handles. So we have simply been waiting for him to hand make them and fit the axe head on there. And he had one finished today! It looks great! The other one will be done next week. Then following the axe place, we stopped at another lumber yeard to price and compare.

After getting back to FF, I finished making the bread and was ready to relax. Our room is so much more appealing now because yesterday, Eric and I bought a fan in town! It is so great! Nice and powerful. I'm sure the other volunteers are a little jealous. ;-)

Wednesday March 13, 2013



Axe's and Saw donated by Mr. and Mrs. Howell

Today I had a pretty good work day. Since we had no kindling for a fire, I decided that I wanted to use the brand new axe that was donated for the very first time. So I went to town chopping up big logs. That axe works super good! It cuts through the wood so well. After awhile of chopping, one of the little kids walked over and wanted to help me. Normally, the little kids arn't allowed to handle the axe, but I was there and helped him through it. He was so funny. He wanted me to chop the big pieces and get them fairly small, then he wanted to use the axe and try to split the smaller pieces. He actually did really good! There were a few times that he just missed the wood alltogether and hit the dirt. But he had so much fun helping me and being a man!

Once my axe muscles were exhausted, it was time to use my shoveling muscles. So I grabbed a shovel and went to work on the ditch for the electricity. I didn't work for too terribly long because my plan was to dig for the work program. Which I was right. Eric and I put in a good couple of hours of digging later that afternoon. We are probably about 3/5th's of the way done.

After the work program, I went and sat down with Jenette. She was all by herself in the big house so she needed some attention. So I picked her up and took her outside. She is becoming so much more responsive. We just sat there and I tried tickling her, took her on a walking exercise to continue building her muscles, and swung her up in the air. Swinging her was my favorite part because she got the biggest smile on her face and even screamed in excitement. I had never heard her so happy! It's so great to see her improve, even if it is very minimal.

This afternoon Warren wanted to have a meeting with pastor Moore. Pastor Moore is Missy and Joy's Grandpa. Apparently he has written a few books and is extremely insightful. So this afternoon, we had an hour and a half service where he just talked with the volunteers about the nature of Christ and he touched on a few other topics. He said that he would like to have a meeting every day until he leaves. He will only be here for a little longer though. He is an older gentleman with some health problems and is going to be going to Africa after here.

A lot later this afternoon, right before dinner, Warren wanted me to load up with him, Juan, and Samuel to go pick up a bunch of wood that we had ordered the other day. Apparently, we have a carpenter that will be coming here in the next couple of days to build some furniture and other useful things for us. So we went out to pick up all of this wood for him to work with. Fortunately, it didn't take us the whole night like I thought. So I was still able to get back and get a plate of food.

Thursday March 14, 2013

Today was a pure work day. All morning I was busy doing something. It all started with me continuing to dig the long electrical ditch over by the church. Wowie, that thing is sure taking a long time! Trying to dig through tree roots in the hot sun is very hard. Especially by myself in the morning.

The other thing I did this morning was work a little bit on fixing the bridge on campus. A few weeks ago, some of the temporary volunteers began to pull up some of the rotted boards and wanted to fix it. But they had to leave before they could fix it leaving the the bridge unusable. So Gerry and I started working on it today, but after we started, Gerry said that the whole bridge is rotten and needs to be replaced. The wood is just being eaten away and when we walk across, the bridge sways from side to side. Looks like Gerry and I have yet another project ahead of us.

This afternoon Eric's desks arrived! Several weeks ago, Eric through his church, was able to raise enough money to purchase brand new desks for the school. The old ones were very beaten up and barely holding on. Anyway, he had ordered them a while ago and they finally arrived. We went ahead and moved them all into his classroom.

On a Sadder note, Joy and Max left today and they will not be coming back. They had announced that they were going to get married and do it this Sabbath. However, yesterday, Eric and I found out that they are going to have the wedding in Canada. So they have both left and have decided to live in Canada. Best of luck to them.

Friday March 15, 2013

Today, Eric and I got super lucky. Last night it rained all night really hard, and it rained all this morning too. School was cancled and we couldn't work outside due to the rain. It rained so hard last night that it knocked down one of of electricity poles which Eric, Warren, and I had to fix in the pouring rain. Anyway, Warren said that since we wern't going to do anything outside today, that Eric and I could go to town! Woohoo!

Town is always such a good time. Especially when it is a bonus day! I didn't want to spend too much money because my budget doesn't allow for bonus days. But that didn't work out so well because I needed to buy new sandles because mine broke last night while trying to fix the pole, and I needed a few snacks to take back to Familia Feliz as Eric and I get very hungry at times.




Sicles and bags donated by Mr. and Mrs. Howell

Also, another super exciting thing, I had 2 packages! They were both from my mom and loaded with awesome stuff! She sent down a soccer ball and a couple of other goodies, but most importantly, she sent me CANDY!!! Reese's pieces, whoppers, gummies, chocolates, fruit roll ups and others! Score! Eric and I miss american foods soooo much. We talke about how we can't wait for our mom's cooking, taco bell, olive garden, subway......AH! I'm getting super hungry just writing this! Hold on while I eat a chocolate........

Later on, we just hung out and were eagerly welcoming Sabbath. We had a fairly long vesper program for the volunteers with pastor Moore in which we talked about achieving perfection as described in the Bible. Afterwards, we had dinner, then Eric and I listened to a bunch of really cool scripture songs that I had on my iPhone from a Bible teacher at my high school.

Saturday March 16, 2013

Mmmmm sleeping in until 8:15. Love it! Then we just layed there, talked, and read our Bibles for awhile until we got up to get dressed for Sabbath school. Most of the volunteers left this morning along with a few students to put on the church service for the church in Rurre. So it seemed like our attendence was cut in half. So while we waited for all of the kids to show up, Eric and I played Bible pictionary of sorts with the kids. We drew pictures of Moses, Noah, David, Jerico, Adam and Eve, and numerous others, and had the kids guess who we were drawing.

Once everyone was there, we all sang some songs, then Missy read a story from a Bible book that I used to read growing up. I remembered all the pictures and what the words were. It wasa great blast from the past. But before the sermon, Missy, and her grandfather (who was supposed to give the sermon) got sick. So we had nothing for the kids other than a Bible video.

After church, Eric and I had a really good bonding afternoon. He borrowed Missy's guitar, and I borrowed her violin, and we had a Bible "jam session". We played songs like amazing grace and I'll fly away and other hymnal classics. We just relaxed and talked and hung out as buddies most of the afternoon until it was time for Rounda.



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


Mountain hike

King of Rurre!

Helping Jenette walk!

Monday March 3, 2013

So last night, after Eric and I got back from town, I come to find out that I will be working with Moises all day today. Apparently, he was asked to take the trash to the dump behind campus, and on his way, he decided to dump it right in front of someone's house on the ground. Juan saw him do it and told him that he needed to pick it up. But he refused. Then, not knowing Juan had already asked, Warren told Moises to pick up the trash and yet again, Moises refused. So Warren decided that for punishment, instead of going to school tomorrow (which Moises likes), Moises was going to work with me all morning doing hard labor. So that is what I had to look forward to today.

Enoch just being cool

Surprisingly, I actually had a really good morning working with Moises. Just before we started, I gave him a lecture about how he needed to work good and not complain at all or else the work would get harded and I'd punish him more. After that, no problems. I made him pick up all the trash that he had dropped in front of the house, and I walked around the entire campus with him making sure that he picked up any other trash too. After we finished picking up all the trash, I had him scrub down all of the bread pans (about 25) to get all of the oil, grim, and residue. After finishing that, I took him to rake up the tall grass that was mowed so that eventually we could burn it.

Moises worked really well today. I was super proud of him and it was kind of nice to have a partner. Especially because absolutely nothing grosses him out. He had no problem picking up dirty diapers that had been sitting in the rain for a few days. It's amazing, he picks it up as if it was just a random piece of paper. So that was another little perk to have him working with me, I didn't have to touch any of that stuff!

Later in the afternoon, after school, Eric and I did some laundry. But before we could even finish, it started storming and raining like crazy! This makes it a little bit hard to dry out our clothes in the sun. Fortunately though, the rain only lasted about 15 minutes. Then the sun came back out for a little bit.

Birds nest!

Eric and I also cleaned house! We cleaned and organized out room. Lemme tell ya, when 2 guys go on a cleaning spree after not having one for awhile, it looks like a completely new room! We even brought in a desk so that we could have a work space. Both of us are huge desk people. So now I have a picture of all my wonderful family members sitting on my desk along with some other nic nacs.

Tuesday March 5, 2013

Today was kind of crazy, little Edwin was cutting grass with a machete when I walked by and WACK! Right into the ankle. HAD to have hit some serious blood vessel......nah just kidding. Today wasn't too exciting.

So you think I can´t pick rice? Guess again!

Wednesday March 6, 2013

Today was kind of a work and fun day. Today, I got to go to town in order to do some more research for the ladys' house that we will be building. After talking with a new volunteer, Gerry (who is a construction worker), we decided that it would be much better and more efficient to build her house out of wood than brick. This completely changed all my plans that I had mapped out, but it is definitely a better idea.

So today, our goal was to research wood and roof prices and locations both in Rurre, and in San buena (which is across the river and where the lady lives). My other goal was to go to a hardware store and purchase some MUCH needed tools for Familia Feliz. This however was only possible with part of a very generous donation from a member of my church, Phil and Audrey Howell. So today I purchased 2 axe's, 2 hammers, a handsaw, 7 sickles, and 7 harvesting bags. These are all in great need and greatly appreciated by all here at Familia Feliz.

Gerry and I were able to get just about everything done that we wanted. Then I was hoping that he would want to eat lunch in town before we headed back. Turns out that not only did he want to eat lunch, but he needed to get his bike serviced. So this allowed me the ever craved internet time! I was able to have a chat with my mom, my dad, and the birthday girl, my lady.

Ended up staying most of the day......good day.

Lunch on the truck

Thursday March 7, 2013

Today was designed to be an all day rice collection day for everyone. We cancled school in order for everyone to work. The big rush is that the rice is only good for about 2 or 3 weeks and we have a TON. However, early this morning it was raining. Fortunately, it was only able todelay us by about 2 hours.

Once the rain lightened up, we all headed out. We had a decent amount of cloud cover which protected us from the extreme heat. Being out there for hours without any tree cover and in the direct sun gets extremely exhausting. Using the sickles however has been an extreme help and has sped up our speed greatly!

After several hours, we came in, ate lunch and took a small break, then headed back out there. We were only ablt to work a couple hours in the afternoon though because there is only so much the kids can do in one day. Ok ok, fine, there is only so much that I can do!

The Adventurers

Friday March 8, 2013

Today turned out to be a baking day. Jodi has requested that I make cinnamon raisin bread every friday for Sabbath. Apparently it is one of her favorites. So even though I had never made this kind of bread, I wasn't too worried. Steve showed me the ways of the bread samurai.

Everything went pretty good. The only problem that I had was finding all the bakery things. Before Steve left, we had our own bakery room with designated items that Steve purchased himself. However, it was decided to turn that into a guest room. This unfortunately left me without a baking room. Not only that, but I was not involved in the moving process. So, all of the various baking things were moved all over the kitchen and being used by other people for other things and several other items are still MIA.

It wasn't a HUGE deal. I simply had to go on a little treasure hunt before I started. But all in all, the bread turned out really well and everyone seemed to like it. So add that bread to the list of successfully completed.

Saturday March 9, 2013

Today was an absolutely perfect Sabbath. Earlier this week, Warren talked to us about how he wants Familia Feliz to start building a stronger relationship with the adventist church in town and start doing more outreach things. So we decided that this week, Eric and I would take a small group of some of the more well behaved kids into town for church.

We came, We conqured!

So this morning, Eric and I woke up early to cook rice with potatoes, tomatoes, and cumin for us to have in town for lunch. After we finished cooking, we loaded up Juancito, Jose Carlos, Damarise, Claudia, Lizette, and Sarah and took off. We wanted to leave earlier than we did, but the truck was out of gas and we needed to add more water to the radiator. So unfortunately, we were only able to make it to the church service.

The church building is fairly small, but was packed! We could not find anywhere where more than 2 of us could sit together. I'm sure that treeman and fire beard.... sorry, I mean Eric and I stuck out like sore thumbs there. We did however, see 3 of the workers from Narguila's there which was really cool.

After the service, we loaded up the kids and drove to the base of a mountain and parked under a tree and dished out the rice and had a picnic in the back of the truck. However, because the girls didn't bring and plates or spoons, we all had to share the 4 bowls that us guys brought.

Are we there yet?

 
After lunch, we started walking up the mountain. This mountain by the way is where the cross is that looks over all of Rurrenabaque and the River Beni. It is only a 15-20 minute hike, but it is completely straight up making it pretty difficult. The kids though made Eric and I look like gringos! And here I thought that after 6 months here, I thought I was pretty much Bolivian. But once we finally got to the top, it was completely worth it. It was incredibly beautiful up there and it was only made better by being there with my best bud Eric, and some great kids.

We probably sat up there trying to cool off for about 30-45 minutes before we came back down. It was a really hot day and we were expecting a good breeze once we got to the top. But unfortunately, it wasn't too much better up there than at the bottom.

Pause everything.... I am typing this at 11:15 pm Saturday night and Eric is in his bed beside me completely passed out. He has been snoring and not moving. But he just started talking in his sleep. The catch is, he is talking in spanish!!!! Haha! So funny! Ok, now to wrap up my day.

Eric and I overlooking the motherland (Rurrenabaque)

After coming back, guess what, everyone else that stayed here at Familia Feliz wanted to go swimming at Asunta. This wasn't a problem, but Eric and I decided to hang back and let them go because we were super tired from waking up early and the hike. So we just wanted a little nap. Then after my nap, I was able to get some good reading done. That pretty much concludes my day or at least as far as I can remember.
You Stay Civilized........Planet Earth!!!!