Last week

We have been very busy the last two weeks here, very enjoyable, making that much harder to leave.

We re able to enjoy another day of service in the isolated territory, have a few more pictures. Next time you all see missionaries, give them a big hug and spoil them in whatever way possible before they return to their assignment. Traci and I didn't fully appreciate what they give up, what they sacrifice for Jehovah, not being able to see their family, working in at times very difficult conditions, and dealing with different cultures, we now have a special place for them in our hearts. We have really enjoyed our four months here.

Getting ready to go to Poqeura, six of us will going in this truck about an hour out of Cochabamba to preach and teach.

Some of the houses in the area

A little dusty when a car goes by, very dry and arid.

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Interesting chicken

More pet pigs

A cactus growing on this roof

Cows laying in front of a harvest, these fields are harvested by hand.

Going to the next set of houses.

Finishing up, stopped by this lake for a picture

We will be eating Empeñadas that have been cooked in this oven

This is a very popular restaurant for eating Chicharon(fried in this pan in oil and other parts of the animal that you don't want to know what parts they are, trust me.

The finished result, Chicharon, or deep fried pork, very good and very rich.

Back in the city,these guys work for the city, use these water hoses and pump to water the grass and
flowers here in the city, The city takes very good care of their parks, and there are parks every few blocks.

Part of our cong, our spiritual family, after spending four months with these guys, its really hard to leave.
They have really taken care us, we will really miss everybody.

Back in the city again, family of four on this motorcycle, we see this all the time. No helmets.

You don't want to mess with these guys, this is the left over evidence of another demonstration.
We have never seen these guys in action, their presence during the demonstrations keep everything under control.





Just a few of the many picture we have, will have to put everything together for a gathering to show more.
Hope to see everybody soon, Tomorrow is the big day, will be going through customs, immigration, and three flights.
First flight is 7pm to Santa Cruz, The second at 12:45 a.m. to florida, and the third at 11a.m. to nashville, arrive in nashville at 12:30, and drive to Lafayette at 2p.m.,,,,,thats if all goes well,,,,it is going to be a looooooooooooong night.        woohoo!!!!

Service, service and more service

I don't think we have ever put any pictures of the service here in the city. It is kind of interesting, instead of knocking on doors we knock on gates. We also do business territory with the gates or houses because probably 80 percent of the houses have some kind of business attached to their property, from dentists to convenience stores to hardware stores. We cover our territory here in the city every 7-10 days. The isolated territory assigned to the congregation gets worked once a month if there is no assembly or visit of c.o. We have worked it twice in the last 4 months. 

The congregation has 103 publishers, with 5 elders, 5 ministerial servants, 8 pioneers and two missionary sisters. The congregation conducts 99 bible studies an average month. Even though the territory gets worked often, its very productive. we start service at 8:30 in the morning and work to about 10:30 to 11:00 and meet back at 4:00 in the evening. Between 11 and 2 the sun is very hot, so most don't do service.

Getting ready to re-group to work another mansono(block).

Lady walking up street, that is a baby on her back.

Would sure hate to get stuck by these thorns.

Walking down the road 

Having a snack after service.

Until next time, hasta luego!

Has it been four months already???

  Hola, How is everyone doing out there?

 Went to our lawyers Wednesday to get all of our papers, they claim all papers good to go. We get home and notice Traci has a man's medical record  from Italy in her file, and of course, her's is not in there. Little discouraging especially after all we had to do and places to go. Called  lawyers, they say they will bring her medical record and  exchange papers, and.....we haven't heard from them again. 
At this point we have reconsidered our stay here, especially in light of the fact immigration can still say no.

These are the papers the lawyers say we need, but since we got cold feet, we will  never know if we got everything, but the way things are here, not being pessimistic but realistic, I would be willing to believe we are missing more than one item, which we wouldn't know until after waiting for hours in the one immigration desk they have, and then we would come back to do it again. These are only my papers. Traci has her own file with the same papers- minus her medical records.

Plus we have both been having problems with our heath, especially me with my breathing and sinus. I went to doctor yesterday and have got a really bad infection in my sinuses. Interestingly,  the cost to visit the doctor is 45 bolivianos, which is $6.42, that’s right six dollars and forty two cents. The doctor actually did a very good job, had to have four x-rays which cost a little more, 130 bolivianos $18.57, total Dr. visit $25.00! So now I have to take antibiotics, antihistamine, cough medicine, I can barely talk without coughing right now. The problem is the pollution can be very bad at times, and it irritates our lungs and sinuses.
.

 We have really enjoyed living here the last four months, but as Ecclesiastes 4:1 says,  a live dog is better off than a dead lion. We thought about going to some towns out of the big cities  but with the way the towns people handle things around here-- there is swift justice, people buried alive, burnt for alleged stealing a motorcycle and hung, there is no police presence in the little towns, and also after considering the relations of President Morales and the U.S. (he has already kicked out two organizations from the U.S. and has threatened to close the U.S. Embassy), we decided to come back to U.S. next month.

It has been very encouraging living here and getting to know our brothers and living in a different culture. We have loved every minute of it. If any body ever gets the opportunity to try it, please do it, we barely scratched the surface here in Bolivia, there are lots of places to visit and the people here are very hospitable.

Got a few more pictures, enjoy! 

Coming in to Cochabamba, about thirty minutes away, if you notice the haze right in the middle of the picture, that's the smog hovering over the city Cochabamba, this particular day was really bad, it was the end of the month and people burn things to bring them good luck the following month.

Smog, that is the rest of the city which you can normally see,
 and  those are mountains in the background 

and more smog, sometimes at night you can see it in the headlights!

More smog, usually this famous statue is white and clearly visible,
this is a city with almost 2 million people and no omission controls.

Example of a clear day

Ok, I promise not to show any more smog or pollution!





Enough of the ugly smog, another pretty sunset.








Down town in Santa Cruz at night.

My bible study's grand-daughter and her puppy.

Working the carrito at the market again. Probably
our last time working public witnessing. :-(

What kind of gas mileage do you think this truck gets?

Ever see a 2x2 motorcycle? Note the chain on the front wheel.

Lots of trucks with three wheels.

Lots and lots of these vw utility trucks being used every day.

Even though its 75-85 degrees, because it is "wintertime",
the people dress their dogs to keep them warm.

Whoops! he is a little embarrassed, his owners forgot to dress him this morning.

Don't want to stand to close to this door, if these dogs ever get out....

Well have some more pictures soon, sad we are leaving some really nice friends, but happy to see some really nice friends and family again.  Hope to see everyone soon!!!