Isolated Territory

Hello everybody,

This is a continuation of the busy week we have had, and still going, with the Trumans leaving Tuesday, We have our visit of our Circuit overseer starting Tuesday with the meeting, so still a busy week. But, wanted to get a few of the many pictures of last Saturday working what is called here, “isolated territory” which is a territory out in the country which is assigned to the congregations in the bigger cities. The territory assigned to us is called Uchuchi-has a couple of little towns and villages in it. It is about an hour and a half from Cochabamba, and a gets worked on average, once a month. We are going to see if we can work it more often. Six of us worked probably the roughest of the rough in this territory, hiked 2 hours in and 2 hours out, but have learned since the visit there is now a road that goes to the little town, so next time we get to drive to this town, but there is also a town on the other side of this town that might have to be hiked to…so stay tuned.

Enjoy the pictures, they just don’t do the landscape justice, therefore everybody needs to come visit

to really see the beauty.

Some of the homes as we get closer to our territory.

Police check point looking for drugs, we all had to get out of the car
and the car was searched, pretty intimidating, but,,,,,,,,

to make best use of our time, noticed what the police have in their hand,,,,,no not the machine gun,,,,,, that's right Watchtower and Awake, and to top that off I asked for a picture, and to my surprise look at their reaction,
all smiles and really nice, we really like the people here in Bolivia.

One of the first people we see when we get out of the car, mother and her hard working son. Isn't he cute?

Heading into a two hour hike, ONE WAY! with
our fearless leader Pablo.

This blog is dedicated to Charlie and Casey,
we are going to miss you!!!!

Walking, walking, and more walking!

Pretty picture of mountain, looks like something
you would see in Africa, again pictures just don't do it justice.

Man working on some food in the front of his house.

Lots of rock formations, at least 175 feet tall.

Had to take a break.

More rock formations, picture of Rodrigo, Charlie,  me, Pablo.

Pablo climbed and ran up this formation
to give you an idea of how tall it was.

We finally get to the town and find these type of homes
to knock on.

This home was on the side of the mountain, the view behind
the home was breath-taking.

Another home with a breath taking view, Rodrigo and I got
 invited into this home to eat.

These fields are plowed by two bulls, no tractors here.

Rodrigo knocking on the door.

Lady invites Rodrigo and I in to give us something to eat, notice in the court yard
is her kitchen, she cooks on an open fire.

Rodrigo eating, mmm so good

She fed us quinoa ,,,Food that in the past was
fit for kings, She felt that us being there would
bring her a blessing, 

Me eating ,,,,,,,very good.

Dried quinoa, high source of protein.

On our way back out, everybody tired, but a good a satisfying tired.

This is a family we talked to in the little town, they accepted literature and
made Pablo and Gabby stay so they could make them lunch, very very hospitable.
We gave the little girl the rest of Truman's Pringles as a gift.

Another picture to show the size of rocks and the canyon, if you
look real hard you will see Gabby and Casey.

On our way out.

As we were leaving, ran across some pigs and piglets,
all playing and jumping and sleeping, couldn't resist the urge to
pet the pig, tame and very clean, didn't smell at all, probably somebody's dinner. 

Got Bacon???




We will post more, probably after co visit, just learned that their are over sixty territorys that are not
assigned to anybody-right here in the Cochabamba area, circuit overseer says one territory is worked by
ridding horses in the territory, so stay tuned, will have some more adventures, but will have to
probably wait until we get our visa's-that in it self is an adventure.
Love and miss every one, hugs and kisses.

What a weekend and Goodbye Casey and Charlie...

We have been very busy the last couple days between several going a way meals for Casey and Charlie and working isolated territory. To start out, last Friday we went about an hour and a half east of Cochabamba to an area called Coraní, which is on the other side of the mountains heading into a tropical area. It was very interesting to say the least as we drove up and over the mountains on these curvy roads passing tractor trailers on double yellow lines because the trucks were going so slow up the hills, but we made it. When we arrived, we ate at a little restaurant located at a trout fish hatchery were the catch your fish fresh and serve it to you, and it was delicious.

The restaurant we ate at

Freshly caught trout cooked two different ways

Trout storage area, dry right now

Goodbye Charlie and Casey

The family who took us, our neighbors and landlord, at a lake we stopped at to see.

The lake with the clouds moving through.

High up in the mountains, clouds come and go, very pretty, pictures don't do it justice!

Mountains so steep, cars pass trucks on blind curves, double yellow lines, pretty crazy,
we tried to load a video to show the crazy driving but it wouldn't up load.

Old castle we stopped and went inside to look at, pretty interesting

News for the Trumans

Hi everyone!

Casey and I have some news.... we are returning to the US.  Granted, it's a lot sooner than we thought but we think it's for the best.  Because of our own limitations, we haven't been able to serve where there is the greatest need in Bolivia: really high altitudes and really extreme heat.  We have explored all of our options and determined this is the best. The visa situation continues to be a mess and we felt it better to cut our losses and try and find somewhere we can be of the most use.

We have enjoyed our stay in Cocha, it is a beautiful city.  Even more beautiful is the congregation here.  The support we have received has overwhelmed us.  We will miss them greatly.

We also want to thank all of you who have followed us and supported us with your kind words and prayers. Hopefully no one will be too disappointed in us.  We wanted this to work out for at least a year, but the best laid plans......

Now for the good news, the Kerstners are going to stay.  Please keep following the blog, as they will be updating it from time to time with experiences and pictures.  We are proud of them and we know Jehovah will bless their efforts.

Night Baseball

Hi everybody!  No big news...no progress on our visas.  Ugh!  But we have had some fun!  We got to play  a night-baseball game with a group from our hall.  So much fun!  They told us before-hand that they don't really know all of the rules and we saw that it was true!  They don't do "3 strikes you're out", they just let everyone on the team take a turn at bat and add up how many runs are scored.  They didn't know about foul balls either so there were lots of runs scored while we chased down balls!  They also had one regular wooden bat and one little wooden Teeball bat... surprisingly, most of them preferred the Teeball bat.  So strange to see these grown men swinging that tiny bat!

On another note, the inevitable finally happened...Casey fell in service.  And not just a little trip, but into a city drain.  They are covered by these huge concrete covers that appear secure but only some of them are.  So while walking in service Thursday evening she stepped on the corner of one and it gave way.  Her leg and foot went right down in and then when she fell forward to keep from going all the way in the pit, the concrete cover closed back on her foot!  Ouch!!  No major damage...except to her pride!  Bruised and a littlw swollen but up and playing baseball the very same night!  Must be that her body is just so used to the clumsiness that it recovers quickly :)