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!!!

Still waiting...But still enjoying ourselves

Not to much going on, we are in a good routine of service; had the circuit overseer visit, and we are still waiting for our background check. We went to Interpol last Wednesday and we were told we would hear something tomorrow, have been told the same thing Thursday, Friday, Sat, Monday, Tuesday, have not checked today, kind of afraid to, but we will. Went on a little excursion on a motorcycle ride around the city with a Brother named Marcos, below are a few pictures, if we can get our papers we can do a little traveling and show some more of Bolivia, but have to wait here in the city until then. Service is really nice, have some good studies and enjoy the ministry and visiting with our brothers here, they are very loving, it is a wonderful privilege to be part of Jehovah's organization.

Marcos and I starting our little excursion. Hope I live through this!

 House made out of adobe bricks, adobe is a material made from sand, clay, mud, and water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material (sticks, straw, and/or manure, which the builders shape into bricks
 (using frames) and dry in the sun. Most houses here in the city have stucco covering the bricks or have been replaced by concrete, wood is not used much because it is expensive here.

We road as close as we could toward la falda (the skirt) of the mountain
to get to a high of enough spot to see the whole city of Cochabamba.

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On the way up, it got a little more rural,

and a little more rural, the city is growing faster than the people
with animals want it to, therefore ones who hang on to their animals
don't have a lot of space, like these cows that are grazing on the side of the road.

We get to a one of the higher spots in the city and get a pretty good view of the city. 

Little cloudy, actually a cold front coming through which will put snow on the mountain tops.

Interestingly, there are alot of old cars and trucks in the city that are being used
daily, cars and trucks in the U.S. that would be classic collectibles.

Wouldn't believe what we have seen hauled on motorcycles, from a family
of four to big car parts, its the only means of transportation some family s have.

Some of the traffic lights have count done as to how
much time is green or red, although for what we don't know,
most people disregard the traffic signals!

Count down to green.

Picture of  Mt Tunari, the highest point in this area, next picture you see of it will have more snow on it.

More clouds, cold front coming in.

Very appropriate for us, wouldn't you agree???

New record of how many in a car
for service, 13 with all of our bookbags,
unbelievable, although we did have third row
seating and only went about eight blocks.
Want to come with us next time?

Traci in service, new form of witnessing for her,using an intercom.

How do you like this rake, it actually  works pretty good

The begining of a very nice party!!!

A "little" party for the young ones in the congregation
during the c.o. visit, the young one have adopted
us in there group even though we are a year or two
older than them.

One of our favorite flowers, Bird of Paradise

Interesting having all these flowers, and not two far
away, snow on the mountains, with more snow
this month, the beginning of winter. 

From pretty flowers to snow...

Mt Tunari with snow

Wish we could take a panoramic picture, but the mountain
range is to long, and we should have more  snow soon, very pretty.

Mt Tunari with a sunset

Dont know if the video will work, having trouble up loading, so this is experimental, 

here in the city there are street performers who do acrobatics to juggling balls, 

bowling pens and hatchets at the red lights for money, pretty interesting

Hope to have more soon, miss every body.