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 Most houses here in the city have stucco covering the bricks or have been replaced by concrete, wood is not used much because it is expensive here.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.

.

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.

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.