A few pictures

Can be found here.. I think. This hasn´t gone as planned so if they don´t work I apologize.

http://media.putfile.com/Faces-of-Bolivia

Back from the jungle

Well I´m back from three days in the jungle. It was much much too short, but a great experience to be back in the jungle. We stayed with Alejandro, the builder at the 2nd orphanage in Chapare. It was an authentic bolivia experience through and through. From the food to the travel to the language it was way out of any american frame of reference. The first full day I was there I was very sick, prbly from whatever I ate the night before. and spent the whole day sleeping on the wood floor of the church or on the wood pew (on a side note, why is it that we are so concerned about the comfort of our church in america?? These people have so few ammenities, it would appal most of the people in america, and I am completely convienced that they are better off for it) The last day I was feeling much better and was able to work on the orphanage with the other half of our team that was at the site (the interns split into two groups, 6 of us at this site, 7 at the other) We were supposed to have lunch with a sister in the church but typical of latin america lunch was very late and we had to catch a bus, ever the gracious host, she sent us on our way with the fish (whole, head and all, about 25") fresh of the grill on a plate to eat with our fingers, that was an experience, good fish too. Keeping in style, the bus to pick us up was about 4 hours late. We had a great time sith alejandro talking about random things, one of the subjects we hit upon was that it´s very common to hitch rides in the back of fruit trucks here. For aobut a doller you can hop in the back with your blanket and ride on top of the oranges or yucca. It is a very typical way to travel between Chapare and Cochabamba or Santa cruz as fruit goes out to market in both cities from Chapare. Wanting to experience the culture A few of us interns asked if we could do that instead of riding the bus, alejandro said it was fine and so we left the jungle in the back of a fruit truck at about 7:30, there were about 10 other people in the back of the truck. It was absolutely beatiful driving through the jungle as the night fell. What an oppertunity. Alejandro talked with one of the interns and me on top of the trucl for aobut 4 hours. Among other things we all shared our testimonies (in spanish of course) it was so neat to hear how the Lord has worked in his life and to be able to share what the lord hs done in mine. Then it got cold...very cold. We spent about 3 hours trying to sleep under alpaca blankets. we arrived in la Cancha at about 2:30 in the morning and got a taxi back to the hacienda. Some shelves fell in the kitchen while we were gone and there was a GIANT mess, so I cleaned that up and got to bed about 4AM. And that´s my adventure in the jungle. Please continue to pray for the Lords work in Bolivia.

The Lord is moving..

Hello all,
I apologize for not updating more frequently but I do not have acess to internet more than once or twice a week here. I could share tons of stories and experiences all ready but I really just want to share one thing right now. When I first arrived There were allready 13 other interns living here at the hacienda. It was defenitly an exciting time but my spirit was very dicouraged at the lack of fellowship we were experiencing. Everybody was doing their own thing, so to speak, and there was very little unity. Starting tuesday this changed! I sat down with one of the other interns, Stephen, and we started talking and preaty soon we were in scripture together reading through the psalms. Shortly after we began, lindsay, a new intern who had just arrived that day walked in and sat down to join us. For the next two hours we we together in spirit, praying and reading scripture, fellowshipping and sahreing what had been going on in our lives. The next evening we again sat down to share scripture together and were blessed with the divine appointment of yet another intern, scott, who happaned to be around when we were starting. Last night, we got back from various things and the 4 of us sat down, joined by yet another intern, Joli. Are you seeing a pattern here?? It is no coincidence that people have happaned to be in the room every time we have begun fellowshipping. The Lord is moving in this hacienda! The Lord is calling us to him, and people are responding! The part of my day I look forward to the most is when we get done with the day I know we will sit around the table and minister Chrsit one to another! This is the churchlife!! Daily bearing one anothers burdens, praying for each other, speaking christ into each others lifes! Plkease pray that the walls of the hacienda would SHAKE with the power of the holy spirit as we continue to fellowship together.

I arrived safely in Bolivia yesterday. I do not have much time to write now but will post more later. Please continue to pray.

maybe I'll stay here....
maybe I'll take you home...
where do we go from here?.....
maybe I'll stay here....
where do we go from here?"

a perfect love
is a world without hunger.....
-Caedmons Call

Buenas Noches from Paraguay..

Well friends, things don't always go as planned. That's what make life an adventure though. I flew to Buenos Aires through the night but when I go there my flight for Cochabamba was delayed. When it finally was ready to go about 4 of us were given the wrong gate and found ourselves on a plane to Rio, we got off before it left and managed to get shuttled to the correct plane. The plane was scheduled to stop in Asuncion, Paraguay and then continue on to Cochabamba, Bolivia. Well we got the Paraguay and thats where we stopped for the day. Why I still don't know but we've been put in a 5 star hotel and have a shuttle back to the airport tomarrow to wait for our flight. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness in persuadeing the kind people at migracion to let this poo gringo in without a visa, something that is very rarely done. Though there was a bit of headache this isn't a bad thing. I now have another stamp in my passport (that makes 3 countries outside the US :-D) and I got to see a bit of the city. I would like to come back.. maybe next summer...hmmm. I got some empanadas for dinner, the food in mexico is amazing and it's not even fair to compare the two but I could go for mixing them because empanadas and sopinas are preaty dang good too. I get confused with the money here. I got 100,000 from the ATM, its equivalant to a bit less then 20$ US if I did my math right. It's odd to spend $10,000 on dinner though. ;). Well, that about does it. Sadly we are so far south that sunset was about 5:30, leaveing me little time to explore the city. I don't feel real great going out after dark in a city I don't know with a temporary visa and a flight to catch tomarrow. Please pray for safety tomarrow, that we get back to the airport ontime and that the flight goes smoothly. Praise the Lord for his provision today getting me safely to where I needed to be, even though that wasn't Bolivia... yet. Also, please pray that my luggage makes it safely. I haven't seen it since Mexico and did not see it on the conveyer today here in Paraguay. I'm off to do laundry in the sink so I have a clean shirt for tomarrow..... buenas noches amigos.

Almost there..

Today I am sitting the the airport in D.F., Mexico. I have been here in Mexico staying with the Crino family. What a blessing to fellowship with saints in another country and be immediately bound together through Christ. Tonight I will be in Miami, tomarrow Bolivia. The past two weeks have been spent discovering another culture, another world, which I absolutely love. The Lord has been so good to provide me with such wonderful families to take me in and I can not begin to express my thankfullness to the Crino family for showing me Mexico. I do not have internet here so do not know when I will get this up. Perhaps in Miami. Please continue to pray for the work the Lord is doing in Bolivia. More when I get to Cochabamba.
Edit: Posting this from MIA in Florida, 2 and a half hours until my flight leaves… It’s so close, I can’t wait.