Who Says We Went Off Young Life Staff??

It was Ann's birthday this week. So they invited the neighborhood church and half the neighborhood kids for cake. At 7:30 there was a knock at the door, and the room flooded with kids! What were we to do?? HA!!




It was not long before we played all kinds of games, ate cake, set off fireworks, sang songs, and had fellowship. While there was no gospel message at the end, a few people did pray for Ann. So the Spirit was at work!





We loved being able to use our home in this way. We love our neighborhood!

How are we feeling?

We talk a lot about what we DO, but want to let you know how we are FEELING here. I'm feeling good. It is funny how much I worry about the future. I already am trying to figure out where we will live when we come back to the US in 2 years. We love our housing- with Drew and Ann and the fact that we walk to and from school. We probably will never walk to and from work again. Our neighbors are great- just today 2 boys brought us a cat that had been poisoned to have us help them nurse it back to health. It is a good community. We've built relationships with some people from different churches, seeing where we want to focus during our time here. We're spending a lot of time with a lot of people for dinner and things like that. No lack of friendships so far. An interesting thing- I believe I mentioned it before, we could come home not knowing Spanish. We could go to school, speak english, and hang out with only English speakers- if we wanted to. But we are trying our best to learn. I miss 2 things- Doritos and Football. People say I can find Doritos here, but I have not yet. We love just taking walks- saying hello to people on the streets, with their herds of sheep or bags of groceries. It is hard- I want to make the most of every day- I am guilty when I am inside, but every day has been incredible. Still only about 5 raindrops and 1 cloudy days- in over 6 weeks. But people say the rainy season is coming. School is great. We are supported by the administration and the kids are good. We are getting to really like them. Some are very spoiled (some have maids help or do homework for them) but they are all great. I'm reading a great book about Simple Living. And trying to live it out. Trying new things- last night had cow hearts and a taco with ketchup, mustard, and mayo. Both were great!!! It has been neat so far because we are learning a lot about how people live differently and on so much less here. I struggle with worrying, and not trusting God with things such as money and my future- but I hope that in my two years here I will really learn how to trust God with these things. But I truly do THANK GOD for once again leading us incredibly and blessing us with more than we coould have imagined. We are so thankful.

Jenny's feelings

If you would like to skip this part, I will not be offended. Some of you have been asking, "How are you doing?" "How are you feeling?" This is always a tough question for me. I can't really say my feelings, with out telling you what I am doing? Well, here goes!

Everything has been really, really good. I will start with school: It is great. The campus is beautiful. I love all the other teachers. My class is full of devil children, and I love them. Seriously, I have the largest class on campus, anytime anything goes wrong at school, I know someone in my class was responsible. Wether it is lying, stealing, cheating, fighting or vandalism, it is someone in my class. And I run a pretty tough ship. I have had to yell at the class 2x!! And I don't yell! Yet, even with these challenges, I really enjoy teaching. I even like elementary? I am not going to lie, I am relieved when once a day I get to leave my little darlings and go teach 8th grade Earth Science. Middle school and early high school might be more of my calling? But, then again, there is something fun about elementary? It's funny, the subject I enjoy teaching the most is English. Reading, writing, grammar! I am horrible at all of those things, yet here I am teaching away! My favorite day is Friday when i spend the first 30 minutes reading to them. We are reading Where the Red Fern Grows, and they hang on every word I say. Beg me to read more. It is so fun to see them so excited. So, I write all this to tell you that I feel good about school and why we are here!

The rest of life is great! I love where we live and who we live with. I am sure that when we leave here, our children will refer to Ann and Drew as Aunt and Uncle. John and I are doing really well, better then I thought. I thought for sure the stress of living in another country would cause more tension, but so far, so good I could not have imagined anything better. I love figuring out the city and that there is the mountain behind our house beckoning us to climb it! So we did.




Where I am feeling stress or pressure...the language. I could, if I wanted, never have to learn spanish. I could go to school, walk home, grab a bus, go shopping, and only speak 5 words. But that is not what I want. So I am trying to study the Rosseta Stone and get into classes asap.

Another area that I am trying to figure out, is where will I focus ministry. What is God calling me/us to here? Do we try to start YL at school? Help lead the youth group at the international church? Or, get to know our neighbors, the kids here, the church and orphanage that is a block away? Fight the language barrier and just GO FOR IT?? Yes, I think the latter! Now, for some divine courage and continued trust that God has called us here, For Such a Time As THIS!

I don't know if that helps? I feel good. I have a deep peace that this is where we are supposed to be. I am thankful. I love seeing God with new eyes again. To see His church. To know Him differently. To seek simplicity. To NOT worry. To have time to pray for others. The feeling of adventure. Time to sit, be still, and know that He is God.
Yes, I like it here.

I do cry. I miss family and friends. Not being home for the holidays will be really hard. Next summer is too far away! John and I hope to be in Costa Rica the end of december-Jan. Maybe you all should come and visit?? That would make me feel better??

Thanks for reading. - Jenny

My new favorite food!! YUMMY!!

We keep asking people around town what's their favorite Bolivian food?. People kept mentioning Anticuchos, but then quickly advised us to wait until our stomachs are used to food down here before we try it. The reason being is that
Anticuchos can be readily found on streetcarts and street food stalls. Not the most sanitary of places. Not to mention the meat is made of marinated COW HEART!! Well, When in Bolivia....

Seriously people, it was AMAZING!! It was how meat should taste. Tender, juicy, and grilled to perfection. Served with a boiled potato on the end of the skewer. I am a meat and potatoes girl! We can't wait to go back!

Fun doesn't stop

This weekend we got to march in a parade for our school- got a standing ovations and a band played for us- so cool. I forced Jenny to do it. It is definitely my kind of thing, she could care less. But what a wife!!! She got up early to march with me!!!

We went kareokeing- a big thing here in Bolivia. I did the worst "Walk this Way" of all time. Man that song is fast!!!

And hung all day with a church- they went to a park with a big pool. Taught the kids ultimate frisbee, learned some new Young Life games, and just layed around and enjoyed being in the middle of nowhere.

Learning, but hard

We had people over for dinner Tuesday and Wednesday, and all spoke Spanish and no English. Tuesday Drew and Ann were here and it was OK, I, John, just listened, tried to pick up some stuff, but just sat there most of the time. Wednesday we had our two neighbors, 21 and 18 years old over for dinner. It was just me and Jenny and it was HARD!!! Exhausting. Trying to understand each other, but just saying, "No Comprende" over and over again. They are wonderful, and it was great to have them over, but it is definitely still very hard to spend long peiods of time with our Spanish Speaking friends! Thursday we hung with an American teacher and her Bolivian husband for "tea." It was great- and her hubby worked for the government so she updated us big time on Bolivia political history and what is currently going on. But boy do we still have a lot to learn!

No cars is cool

Last weekend was the annual "Save the Environment Day" in Cochabamba. It was very cool. No cars allowed on the road. Everyone had to bicycle or walk anywhere they wanted to go. There was a big festival downtown and we decided to walk there and back. Walking there was fun, the entertainment was great, bands, street performers...but the walk home was HARD!!!! We live ON a mountain, so walking home aboout 3 miles up the mountain makes the calfs BURN!! They really need to do something like this in the states. It creates such a friendly environment, and it cuts down on an estimated 98% of pollutants for the day?

Crazy in Santa Cruz, but Calm in Cochabamba

A lot of people have heard about the political situations here in Bolivia that have led to the US Ambassador being kicked, the DEA being out and fighting and deaths in the Eastern region. We are thankful that the issues with protests and violence are about 3-4 hours away from us. The only effects we have felt so far is a shortage of gas. But all is calm. We hope people unhappy with President Evo Morales will reach a peaceful agreement soon, that people losing lives will enable both sides to see that violence is not the answer. Thank you all for your concern and we hope all will continue to be peaceful in our city. We do appreciate prayers for the country and Cochabamba, we hope to be able to continue to feel safe.

Biking on Cobblestones will be hard but worth it

Pretty darn crazy- Last week I began contemplating a fun idea- doing Ironman Brazil in either 2009 or 2010. It would be hard training, mostly because most of the roads are cobblestones. I said I'd only do an Ironman again if I train with someone else. Drew is a runner and we can train together. I also saw some guys riding our first week here. I want to find them. But this was crazy. On the way to church we got off the trufie, and guess what we saw. A bike race. But it wasn't a bike race- it was a triathlon. IN COCHABAMBA!!! It was the Bolivian championships. It was so cool. I went crazy. I just started saying "English? English?? English??" After being turned down by about 15 people a guy spoke English and explained that triathlon is still a very new sport in Bolivia. He said only about 15 people do triathlons here in CBBA. He introduced me to his swimming coach and I may spend some time with them. Either coaching or training myself with them. We will see. I love the sport, and it will give me a great opportunity to spend good time with people here. So we'll see what happens. I am pumped.

FUNKY FOOD

All the top chefs in Cochabamba were having a cook-off. What better way to try all of the best food that this AWESOME South American city has to offer? It was wonderful. We ate ridiculous dishes. Everything was presented so professionally, it was a top notch, sophisticated place. And then a fellow got on a mic to open the food lines and then everyone went like crazy to get as much food as possible. It was pure chaos! People threw elbows. Sure, I got cursed at in Spanish, but hey, I was a man on a mission! I had no idea what any of the chefs said, so I had no idea what I was eating, but it was so cool.

I got a few plates of food, ate some, got a few more. At one time I had six plates of food in front of me. Do you know how lamb is very fatty?? Well, so is Gerbil. Jenny graciously ate the meaty part and let me have all the fat. It was disgusting. All the food was great, except for about three or four things (spit into a napkin). None of the chefs saw so I did not offend.

We ate pigeon, gerbil/hamster a few different ways, other small birds, lama, alpaca (yes, they are different), meat with chocolate gravy, octopus...it was an experience. The only thing we avoided was the whipped ham? Mmmmm! A great experience. And...nobody got sick, so we're so thankful.

A note from Jenny:
My husband. I love him. For those of you who know him well, you know that he likes to get his money's worth. We paid 75bs each to get into this place. One of the most expensive meals we have had here for sure! (that is 10 US dollars each!) HE WAS RIDICULOUS with the amount of food he was bringing to the table. I had a total of 4 plates, including one full of chocolate goodness, and at one point I saw John double fisting it to the table with 2 plates in each hand. A-mazing. He was sure not miss out on anything!

Choppin' Chicken Necks

Another great thing about living here, is eating here. We get everything fresh from the market or from our neighbors. Drew and Ann love to cook so we are learning a ton, too. Just this week we went to our neighbor to buy some chicken for dinner. And that is what she gave us. Head and all. I had to watch a few youtube videos to learn how to cut up a whole chicken. None of them showed how to remove the head? So, in one of my more glorious moments, I threw back the butcher knife to see what it could do! LIKE BUTTA!! We had a great dinner! Can't wait to have you all over for a fresh cooked meal! When are you coming?