We've got wheels!

This week the Bolivian Government decided to raise the price of gas after being the same for the past 6 years, the increase was pretty dramatic. The price went up 70% which in turn has raised the prices for taxis, buses, groceries, clothes, you name it. For the past few months we've been using public transportation but it's tough sometimes when you have a Bible Study or you need to go somewhere when it's dark, so we finally decided to get a little moped. Today was the first full day of being able to use it in service and to run errands and it worked out great. What it would be costing us to get a cab to downtown and back, we can now fill up our gas tank. Here's a picture below from service today.

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Rain Rain Rain

Today we went in service. It was super hot. Then after service we went to the market to check out what they were selling. Then the rain came. It must have rained for about an hour. It was a torrential downpour. Our dry riverbeds actually became rivers again and the streets were flooded. We couldn't get home for awhile so we sat in the car with the taxi driver. When the rain slowed down we drove home. We could not get down our street so we had to walk home in the rain. Our street looked like a small river. The rain finally stopped.

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Pioneer Meeting

We had our pioneer meeting yesterday which was great. We not only received wonderful spiritual food but also some tasty treats afterward. We took a group picture afterward which you can see below. We have a total of 15 pioneers in our hall.

Week 7

A few things have happened this week. We decided to add a new family member (and no I am not pregnant). A friend of ours has a study that had some kittens, and after a long talk and writing down the pros and cons of getting a cat, we decided it best to get one. A sister in our hall was so kind to offer if we ever move to take the cat. That relieves a lot of worry for me. So we got a little girl cat and named her Bella. She has been a very calm cat. Sleeps a lot, probably because she is only 6 weeks old. So she was born a week after we came here. :) Then we had a couple over on Sunday night for dinner. I made a lasagna. Here is the recipe, it was really good: Open-Faced Lasagna. I would recommend trying it. I had to substitute a lot because we do not have canned anything really and bread crumbs you have to make yourself. Which I mean come on is not really that hard. :) Then we had some awesome ice-cream we bought here. There is a place that makes it fresh it was amazing, Mocha-coffee. MMMmmm! On Monday, Justin went to start golf at 6:30 am in the morning, before it got hot. But again like last time it was one of the coldest days. On Sunday it was 90 -100 degrees and then Monday was 50-65. Huge change for us. You can never put away winter clothing because you never know when it will get really cold again. I woke up at 8 and got everything ready to catch a bus to the vet with Bella. It was a surprisingly nice vet. I was quite impressed with the facilities and she was very kind. Then we took another bus to the Marsden's house for our Mexican Fiesta Day. LOL We come up with different meal plans on some Mondays, so we can all get together and enjoy lunch after the guys finish golf. So we made fajitas, nachos and salsa, burritos, corn, and margaritas. It was really good. I was surprised how good Bella was she slept the whole time on my lap. At first she was really bad running under the stove, almost burnt herself, and none stop crying. She just wanted to sit on someones lap and sleep. After that we went home and had Mario (the brother who builds our furniture) come over and go over the rest of the furniture we need. Only small things now like a pantry, nightstand, something to hide Bella's litter box and a decorative cat tree house. It is going to be really neat looking and blend in with the house. He brought his little girl and she loved playing on the iTouch I have. After they left we talked to friends back home and went to sleep. Today we were suppose to go in service, but did not because I could barely talk. Last night I twisted my neck weird and something pulled. Today it is hard to eat and talk a lot. I hope I am better for my talk tonight. I will let you know. Hope everyone is well.

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Flower of the Week

I bought them at the Mercado Campesino. I need to take a picture of the Mercado, it looks like it is from a movie. Tons of people trying to sell everything and anything. :) They cost about $.75.

We have FURNITURE!!!

Well that title about says it all. We finally have almost all of our furniture. Today came the last big piece. Our table, chairs and entertainment center. It turned out really nice and it is very functional.

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We are doing well so far. It has been really, really hot so our energy levels are at a low right now. But we are resting so that we can re-energize. It has rained a few times this past week and we are really appreciating it.

Our Kingdom Hall Dedication Photos

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Our Kingdom Hall Dedication & More

So today we had the privilege of attending our Kingdom Hall dedication. Our hall had been remodeled due to the building being lop sided. They had to call it a remodel by the city standards, but in reality it is a completely new hall. We started the day out in service and Justin and I went on a Bible study of his. Then to lunch with a family here. They invited a lot of brothers and sisters who worked on the Kingdom Hall. Justin ate cow stomach and cow utter. I tried a smidge of the cow utter. Not my thing at all! Ew! Then we got ready for the dedication. Got dressed and went to the Kingdom Hall. They had food there, but I could not eat because I was so full. The meeting was very nice and since our hall is not that big the brothers rented the Colleseo for everyone who could not fit in the Kingdom Hall. They then broadcast the whole meeting on Skype. It was really neat. After we all went over there and they had skits, dramas, and singing from the 3 congregations in our Kingdom Hall. We have video but there is no way we can download it from here. :)
Other then that not much has been going on. We go in service everyday except Monday and Wednesday. Which is wearing me out a little bit, because service is physically very hard and hot here. But the rest days really help. We start everyday at 7:30 am because it is bright by 6 am and gets very hot quick. We stop around 10 am or so. Then we go on studies or return visits. How I wish to drive in a car for awhile. :) We are enjoying it here very much. We get from one place to another by taxi usually and get a chance to preach a lot. Which for us is unusual and we forget to bring our Bibles with us. But we are starting to learn slowly. :)
So far we have only a bed and a table ( that the Marsdens lent us). We are looking forward to furniture very much. I dislike having all of my clothing in suitcases still. But I am learning gran paciencia (great patience) here. Tomorrow we go to immigration to turn in our paperwork for our carnet (your identity card here). After we are going to the humungous market here for the first time and then later we will go to the Expo Sur which is like a county fair here. Tomorrow is very busy so I better go and get some sleep. Talk to you all soon! Miss you all and hope to hear from you!

1st Week In Tarija

Well our first week has been eventful. We started out the first day going in service Justin and I both placed magazines and the householders were very nice. Then after we went to lunch to get some Hamacas (huge saltenas). Then we looked around town a bit. When we got back to the car we noticed all of our service bags had been stolen. Good thing I carried mine with me everywhere we went. Otherwise I could have lost my passport and all the money we brought with us. Justin lost his nice new service bag and dog zapper. Out of the 4 we brought 3 were stolen. So I am the only one who now has a dog zapper which is really needed in service. The Marsdens (the family we are with) lost their bags too. She lost her drivers license and carnet (which is your Bolivian id).Then on Friday we went to the sisters house were we are going to live. It is a nice guest house. The sister gave us a super cheap rent and has been doing so much for us. We are so grateful. We started our paperwork and had to wait until Monday to pick it up. Over the weekend we went to our meeting on Saturday night and service on Saturday and Sunday. We bought things we needed for the house on both days at different outdoor markets that are only on the weekends. They were a lot of fun. We spent around $150 on so much stuff that with 4 people all our hands were full. It is amazing the prices down here and the quality of things you can buy. The food is amazing everything is fresh and reasonably priced. So on Monday we went and finished our paperwork. Today we slept in and did some more shopping for the house. Bought a washer and dryer from the missionaries here in Tarija. Then we took it to our new home and met Jordi which is the sisters kid. He is really nice. They also have two dogs. One reminds me of Dulce and her big eyes and the other is a Boxer. So you know I am loving it. Well I got to go to our meeting. I will post pictures when I can. :)

1st -2nd Day in Bolivia

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1st Day - It Can Not Get Crazier Then This

It was one crazy day. We were flying through the night. We landed in El Alto (The High) to drop people off and get new passangers. We were all set to go and were on the tarmac when one of the planes engines decided to break down. It was a little scary because we were already getting ready to take flight. Glad it happened when it did. Over the planes intercom we were told that we would not be able to leave until then next day because a plane from Miami would have to come and bring a special camara to fix the planes engine. So we got off and started through customs. We saw a couple that was dressed nicely and they saw us and came up to us and asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses. Well come to find out they are the newest missionaries (Roberto and Ginetta Moya) coming from the 129th class to Bolivia on assignment. So after that we stuck together and went through the rest of the day together. After getting our bags we went to the ticket counter. El Alto is around 15,000 feet high. It was difficult to breathe and carrying bags did not help the cause. Poor Ginette got really sick and had a seriously bad headache. I tried to help her everyway I could while the guys carried the bags and tried to talk to the ticket lady about flying out that same day. We got a plane flight for 7:25pm. So we grabbed our combined baggage of 10 big bags and 8 carryons and went to try to sleep in a corner. At this point we are all starting to get sick from the altitude. After about 3-4 hours sitting there a couple comes up to us and we find out they are the missionaries located in El Alto (the highest missionary home in the world). They take us back to there house and let us sleep a little. That is when I got sick. NO fun. It was the first time I vomited in my adult life. It was terrible. Then it started to get super cold. We were all sick at that time. We were so thankful for the kindness shown to us. The sisters made us the best ginger chicken soup. I wish I could have ate it, but everything made me sick even water. Then at 5pm we took a taxi back to the airport. Got our tickets and checked ALL of our baggage. Then we went through the security check and a woman asked me if I needed oxygen because I was not looking good. But I kindly declined. After we got on the plane and took off to Santa Cruz. Landed in Santa Cruz, went to Bethel and slept the night away. I was glad to have met the Moyas, I feel like we are closer to them now. LOL I guess going through that we are. Their assignment is in a place higher then El Alto and colder. I hope Jehovah blesses them everyday for their self-sacrifice I will miss their company. But we will always have a funny first start to our assignments. :)

Our Almost Empty Apartment

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Washington DC

So we received our letter from the Bolivian Branch on Thursday night. About 6 hours before we left to go to Washington DC. A brother in our congregation and his wife checked our mail everyday for us and it finally came. They sent us a scanned copy of it since mailing it to us would be useless. So the letter did finally come. We were so relived. Then we left at 1am on Friday. It took us 6 hours to get to Washington D.C. We drove to the US Authentications office and were in and out in about 15 minutes. Then we went to the Bolivian Consulate. It was so tiny. It was in this rinky dink little place next to a laundry mat. We brought them all our paperwork and they hand us 4 deposit slips. They tell us to go to the nearest Bank of America and deposit $43 4 different times into their account, so that they can have the receipts to tape to the back of the authenticated letters. So off we were walking around D.C looking for a Bank of America. There was one about 4 blocks away thank goodness. Then it was back to the Consulate. Then we give them all our paperwork and they tell us to sit down. So we wait a few minutes then the gentleman brings our paperwork back to us and says it's all done. We ask him "Where is our passports and other paperwork?" He walks back and comes back to ask us to follow him. Then we get to the back and have to explain to them what we are doing. Which we told them at the beginning. :) Oh I love dealing with the Bolivian Consulate. Finally they figured it out and told us they have to email some paperwork to the Bolivian Government and we should have our passports and all by Friday. Patience, patience, and more patience. Well after that we went to our hotel and changed and went back to D.C to look at some museums. We went to the National Air and Space Museum, the Capital, and other smaller museums. Then we found a restaurant to eat at and went back to our hotel. On Saturday we went to the Holocaust museum. It was really good to see what we did. It really made you realize how much power one person can have and that it could happen again. I am so proud of the good witness the Jehovah's Witnesses gave in the concentration camps. They had a Bible that one of the Witnesses had there. I was so proud that they were the only ones given the chance to sign a document saying they renounced their faith and they did not. I hope I have strong faith like that. It also impressed on me how much Jehovah must have helped them. Then we went to the National Museum of Natural History. After we saw the Washington Monument and the White House. Then we headed back to the hotel to change and find a restaurant. We found this really cool restaurant in D.C. It was called the Little Ethiopian Restaurant. The food was super good and you ate with your hands which I liked. We had a bottle of Ethiopian Honey Wine too which was super good. Then that was it off to bed. :) Today we woke up around 9 had breakfast and drove home. 8 hours not to bad. Now to unpack and start downsizing...again. Check out our picture link in the previous post for pics.

In Ohio

So last Friday we drove up here to Ohio to visit our family and friends. While driving up we stopped at the Hofbrauhaus in Newport, Kentucky. It was so awesome and authentic German food. We had dinner that night with Chris, Erin, Tyler, Ethan Morrison and Linda. Then on Saturday we went in service and enjoyed a nice day out in the ministry. Later that night Justin and I were surprised with a going away party for us. We had a wonderful bonfire and great food. They had two cakes made for us with our pictures on it and a picture of where we will be living in Bolivia. It was so great to have everyone together. Thank you everyone for that we really enjoyed it. Then on Sunday we went to the meeting and had lunch with Matt and his kids. Then later that day we went to Danielle's house and helped with unloading some hay. Then we went four-wheeling. It was a lot of fun. I am glad that they opened their home to us so we could enjoy ourselves. Then on Monday we met Jonathan and Rebekah for early morning service and stayed out with them until 6pm. We were so tired after that. Tuesday, we slept in and Justin did some work online and we went to see Sr. Pat Myers. Then we went to JcPenny's because we heard that they had short sleeve dress shirts for men on sale. We picked up four for Justin. Then we went to dinner with Linda to Olive Garden. On Wednesday, we met with Jonathan and Rebekah again in early morning service. We went to their house and had pancakes and bacon and watched the Bolivia video with them. We enjoyed another long day with them and stayed out until 5pm. Then we went to Applebee's with Linda for dinner. Now it is Wednesday night and we are going to sleep in again tomorrow and Justin is going to finish up some work. Then on Thursday night - Friday morning we are heading over to Washington DC in order to get to the Secretary of State office at 7:30am. We are going to stay in Washington DC until Sunday. We still have not received our letter from the Bolivian Bethel. Mail is so uncertain from Bolivia to here. I hope we get it soon. :) Trust in Jehovah, right. :) Well I will let you know how it goes. Here are some pictures so far.

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Running around Nashville, TN

So yesterday we called the Bolivian Consulate in Washington DC to make sure that we did not have to send any other paperwork other then the letter from the Bolivian Branch. Well come to find out as of July 17th, 2010 there was a new policy put into place for ones wanting to get a special purpose visa. This was the first time we had heard of this. Well what they needed was a letter from our local Kingdom Hall stating that it was a part of the Watchtower and Tract Society, in both Spanish and English. Then we had to have another letter stating that Justin and I were both Jehovah's Witnesses, in Spanish and in English. So this consisted of 8 letters. Well we have to have them notarized. So this morning at 8 am we met up with the secretary of our Kingdom Hall at the local UPS and had them notarized. Then we drove to Nashville, to the Secretary of State's office. When we arrived we talked to the lady in charge and found out that we had drove 3 hours and had needed to get a certification in our county before we came there. I started to cry. I was so stressed and was holding it in that I just broke. I hate crying in front of people it embarrasses me. Well then she said that we could go to their local County office and get the papers notarized.
So off we were to go to the local County office. Well when we got there the lady told us we needed to go find a gentleman and ask him to notarize our papers. We went to the front desk and was directed directly to him. After explaining our situation he asked where was the person who signed the papers, we told him he was back in Knoxville. After reading our paperwork he took the 8 papers to his desk and began stamping and signing them. I pulled out my checkbook to pay him and he told us that we were doing such a great thing that he couldn't take our money and that we had payed that morning so he would feel bad taking our money twice. It was so awesome. We were really relieved.
Then we went back to the lady we had spoke with earlier. She attached a paper to each of the documents and signed them. Then she directed us back to the State Secretary's Office to get the rest of the Authentication done. So off we went again back to the State Secretary's Office. We caught the lady we had spoke with earlier and she said that she could now authenticate it. So after about 10 minutes we had 8 authenticated papers from the State in our hands. We were so relieved. We went for a late lunch and headed home.
Well that is it for today, but in about a week we have to drive to Washington DC after we go to Ohio and have these papers Authenticated by the US State Secretary. Then take theses papers and the letter from the branch (which we have not received yet) back to the Bolivian Consulate in DC. We are going to do all this in person to make sure it gets done. Hopefully then we can get our 30 special purpose visa to be allowed into the country. Without that visa we can not apply for residency. I do not even want to think about the paperwork involved in getting that. :/

Surprise Party 9.11.10

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Surprise Going Away Party

Well I am writing this after returning home from a surprise going away party that our congregation had for us. It was so wonderful. It overwhelmed me a little and I cried. It was so nice to see all of my friends there. They had made all our favorite foods. MMMmmmm!! The kids sang two kingdom songs. They did such a great job. Then we watched the newest Bolivia video. Then they had a drama after that it was about David and Goliath. It was amazing. They had pre-recorded their voices, they had an intro like they do at the assemblies even. It was so cool. They had all the outfits too. They had one of our elders dressed as a bear, like when the bear tried to eat David's sheep and he had to hit it. Then Goliath was a tall brother in our hall. It was funny I couldn't stop laughing. They practiced and worked so hard on it. It is funny because we usually stay after the meeting on Wednesday until the end and they all were waiting downstairs for us to leave. LOL They stayed up until 12 o'clock at night working on it. I can not believe they did all that for us. It was so nice. I will have to post pictures when I get some. They also gave us a book where everyone in the hall wrote something to us. It is so nice to be able to take those encouraging words with us to Bolivia. I love the brothers and sisters in our hall soooooo much.

First Week of Pioneering Together

So we have completed one week of pioneering together. So far so good. We started 2 studies and are ready to go back out in service tomorrow. Today we laid around the house and relaxed. We figured that Mondays would be the day we would rest and catch up on everything for the next week. We are 50% complete with our visas to Bolivia. Right now we are waiting for a letter from the Bolivian Branch in Santa Cruz. We have to have an official letter that we can send to the Bolivian consulate here. Hopefully it will get here soon because we have a very short time before we leave. It is in Jehovah's hands. I have complete confidence. :) I had a hard day on Saturday because we worked in service at the flea market. It was hard for me because not only are you walking up to people to talk to them but it is almost like you have to chase them down. That made me so nervous. Then on top of that I got turned down every time. Which is rare. One guy even closed my Bible on me. It hurt because I was so nervous in the first place and then for him to do that just made we worse. I have been feeling down about my Spanish too, but I am working on that by listening to podcasts on my iTouch before I go to sleep so that I think about it in the night too. Thank you everyone for the encouragement. You may not realize how much us means to us. It really does help to hear encouraging things. Last night we went to Booms Day which is the biggest fireworks show in the nation. It was so amazing. Here is a few pictures of us and Jared Greene our friend, who was in town for the weekend.

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1st Day of Pioneering Together

Well that about sums it up. LOL Today was awesome. We woke up at 6am and got ready to do some early morning service at 7am. It was so nice to have the support of our friend Denielle who is pioneering also. We had a really good morning. Justin got a Bible study at his very first door he did today. That made me a little jealous because he is so awesome at Spanish. Well you know me. If someone else does it so do I. At the very next door I got a Bible study. :) Jehovah was so blessing us today. Denielle was doing so good this morning also, talking to all the Spanish people we met at gas stations. So this is the very first day of how the rest of our life will be. :) We had to take pictures so I am posting a few.

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Atlanta Weekend Trip

Well we are back now. Justin and I went to Atlanta on Saturday after service. We enjoyed seeing the Atlanta Braves play. We got to sit in the row right behind the where the Braves players sit. Then today we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was nice. I still like the Chattanooga Aquarium better. It is amazing that the Georgia Aquarium has the biggest tank in the world. They had 4 teenage whale sharks. The tank can hold 6 mature adult whale sharks. The tank is a football field long without the end zones included. They had manta-ray in the tank too it was really amazing to see them swim around. The average wing size is 15 feet wide and the biggest recorded was 33 feet wide. Then after the aquarium we went to the Coca-Cola Museum right across the way. It was cool to see the different things that Coca-Cola was involved in. Also we got to taste 60+ different flavors of Coca-Cola products around the world. The best was from China. It was a candy pine nut drink. Super sweet and good. But that was it for today. We enjoyed our short visit. Here are some pictures of our trip.

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District Convention 2010

This past weekend we went to our District Convention in Dalton Georgia. It was a very nice convention center. We had 29 baptized. I felt a lot more comfortable with my Spanish and did not get the headache I usually do. That gives me a lot of hope. :) It was strange to have people come up to us who knew about our upcoming move to Bolivia. I felt like a celebrity. LOL We met a lot a lot of really nice friends and hope to hang out with them before we leave. It was also strange realizing that this was our last convention in the States. I will certainly miss the comfortable seats. But anyways here are some pictures.

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Finally an Update

Sorry I have not updated the site recently. I tend to forget about this site. Well we went to Bolivia and are back now. It was an amazing experience and we can not wait to go back. The area we stayed in most of the time was considered richer. But Bolivia is the poorest country in South America so you can imagine "rich" in their eyes is different then it is in ours. The people are extremely humble and so nice to talk to. So to show you how poor it is let's talk about their money. 1 US $1 = 7 Bolivianos. So if you want a hair cut for instance it would cost you 1 US dollar. We had a steak dinner for 4, drinks, and sides at a five-star restaurant for $20 US dollars. Most people on average make only a $1 a day so it is very expensive to their standards. Now things that are a little bit more pricey there are electronics, gas, and beer.

We had a few interesting foods one of which was called "pata de vaca" literally translated "hoof of cow". They boil a cow hoof for I think what was 2 days and then it is soft enough to be able to grind into a pudding-like consistency. It was amazingly good and I actually can not wait to have it again. One of our favorite foods their was Sultenas, which are similar to Empanadas. That was our favorite street food. Much of the food there you have to be careful how they wash it. But fried and boiled things you don't have to worry about.

So on to service. It was amazing. It is strange to do house-to-house territory again. It was neat. Every morning the group meets at the designated plaza. Then you make your plans and pray in the middle of the plaza. Then you go two-by-two to the surrounding area and preach. I had such and enjoyable time. My Spanish became better when I had to use it, because none of our friends down there understood English. I actually got to speak to a Catholic Priest and he listened.

Justin and I were a very unusual sight there. Being tall, white and me with my short hair. The people are a lot shorter and all the women have long hair. The women from the mountains are short and strong, with two long braids down to their lower backs. They all carry these big towels like things on their backs that serve as a backpack. Its funny because we were at a Special Assembly day there and we watched a sister pull all kinds of stuff out of it. Like her meeting bag, lunch, cushions for the hard concrete, a kid....(lol just kidding).

The usual day down there for us was: 7am wake up and eat breakfast, 8am service, 10am stop service, 10am-12pm make lunch, 12pm-2pm eat lunch and take a nap, 2pm-5pm walk around town or service, 5pm --> relax, study, eat small dinner, watch movie, go to bed. It is a very comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. There is never a rush to get anywhere or do anything. I love it.

A few things that we got to do down there was stay with the district overseer and his wife. We actually traveled to Bolivia with them. You would not believe how big of a district he has... ALL of Bolivia. Check out how huge the country is and then you will be shocked. We stayed with a couple in Tarija, Bolivia who has been living there for a very long time, who before that was in Ecuador and originally were from here in TN. We also had the privilege to stay at the Bolivian Bethel in Santa Cruz. We had a wonderful time and the Bethel family was extremely helpful and kind.

Well that is all I can remember right now. But here is a link with some of the pics we took. You will see the "pata de vaca", Bethel, the women who made Sultenas on the street, a protest we saw, the beautiful surroundings of Tarija.

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Adventures Starts in 1 Day

So today is the day before we go to Florida to visit my family for a few days. Then the real adventure begins. On Sunday at 10pm Justin and I are flying to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We will be staying at the D.O's house for that day and the next day we will be flying to Tarija. We will stay with the Marzdens until the next Sunday. On that Sunday we will be able to go to the Special Assembly day there in Tarija. Then on Sunday night we will leave for Santa Cruz and stay at the Bethel Home until Tuesday morning. That is the end of our trip, that's when the real work begins. Simplifying AGAIN and getting all our paperwork together in order to get our residents visas, and making a decision where we end up living. I can't wait. :D

Adventures Begin

Well I haven't updated the site in awhile so I figured today was the day. So next week starts our adventure to Bolivia. We are so excited and can not wait to meet all of our brothers and sisters down there. We leave May 13th and fly to Florida to spend some much needed time with my family. Then on Sunday May 16th Justin and I fly out from Miami to Bolivia. It is about a 7 hour flight, not to bad. I am glad that we are flying through the night that will make it a lot easier. I am excited too because I put together small gift bags for the children. I put a packet of crayons, a stencil bookmark, different kinds of stickers, a bouncy ball, and candy. I put some of my favorite candies like a ring pop, smarties, tootsie rolls and laffy taffy. I can not wait to share with you all all of our experiences down there.

Also we figured out when we are going to be leaving to live in Bolivia for good. When we come back we will be buying our plane tickets for the middle to end of October. We are very happy and thank Jehovah so very much for his support and help throughout this time in our lives.

As far as this weekend, we are driving to Ohio to see our friend Amy get married. We are very excited and can not wait to see them. It will also be nice to see Justin's mom before we leave on our vacation next week.

Let the vacationing begin.....

Photo Card For Bolivian Friends

Well after being at the International Convention we realized the importance of always coming bearing gifts. :/ So this time we are readily prepared. For the families I figured we would give this small memento from our congregation and for the children I will make small baggies of candy. I am told that candy is a very special thing, since children down there do not get to buy it often.

Congregation Photo

Today we took a congregation photo that we will use as small gifts for the brothers and sisters in Bolivia. I was so happy that all in attendance supported taking the picture. It turned out very nice. Check out the results.

New Apartment

So this is a video of our new apartment. I didn't take any pictures because I figured it would be really hard to do since it is such a small space. So video it is. :D

New Hat

So I finally found a hat that would work for our trip to Bolivia. The family we are staying with recommended that we find a wide brimmed hat and bring SPF 50 with us. Since being so close to the equator, it is quite easy to burn. I am really happy to have found a hat because I have been searching for quite some time. I finally found one that fit my big ole' head and that I don't look completely like a boy in. :D

Updates

Well everything has been going well so far. Today we have a guy and his wife coming by to look at our Honda Pilot for the second time. :) The yard sale this past Friday and Saturday went really well. We sold almost everything we need to sell, the rest of it we took to Goodwill. We also sold our bedroom set and the glass tables in our living room. Last week we had the inspector come to the house and check it out for us. That went super smooth. He found only 3 things wrong and they were all incredibly small things. So we are getting them fixed and hoping the sale of our house still goes through. Our realtor keeps telling us that they buyer can drop out at the last minute. But I am keeping my trust in Jehovah because he will make sure it goes smoothly if this is what He wants for us. I am super excited though. The other day Justin got an email from the brother with whom we are flying to Bolivia with in May. He said that Bethel requested that we stay with the Bethel family for a few nights so we can see where the need is the greatest. I was so excited when I heard that. We are so excited for our trip to spy out the land. I just keep praying that this is what Jehovah wants too. Thanks for all of the support we have been getting. Justin and I really appreciate every one's comments and encouragement.

Life Fastforwarded ----->

Well a whole lot has happened in the past three months.
Change #1:
To begin Justin and I made the decision to find a good home for our dogs. It kinda happened in about 3 minutes. LOL Let me explain. I had a sister come by from another congregation to look at a futon we were selling. Well the moment she came in she immediately fell in love with Dulce. So all of a sudden the words came out of my mouth "Do you want to take her home?" To my surprise she said "Yes!" Well we packed all of Dulce's stuff up and sent her on her way. Well about four days later she called and said that she could not keep Dulce for unseen reasons. Well I told her not to worry and to bring her by my work. It was my last day of work. So I began to tell my workmates what happened and one of them was really happy. I thought that to be kinda weird. So I asked her why was she smiling so much, come to find out that she had wanted Dulce all along. So I asked if she wanted to take her home whenever the sister dropped her off to me. Immediately she said "Yes!" So that day she took Dulce home. About four days later she calls and to my surprise asks if she can also have Buster. Of course I said yes. So they have had their new home now for a month. I miss them a lot, but could not be happier that they are together and are in a great home.

Change #2:
Justin and I decided to put our house on the market before that tax break was lifted at the end of April. We did that and set a price on what we wanted to sell it for. We had about 3 - 4 people look at the house. The first couple said it was on the top of their list and in 10 days, from us listing it, and offered us a price. This was last Thursday. So at 11 o'clock at night Justin and I went to the Realtors office and signed a paper counter offering. That very night they gave us a verbal that that sounds great to them. Then this past Sunday they signed the papers saying that they would purchase our house for the agreed price. The closing will be on April 22nd.

Change #3:
Justin and I looked around for apartments and found one. Now we are having to simplify and sell all of our non-essentials. So we are having a giant yard sale this weekend. My entire garage is filled with non-essentials. It is amazing how much you accumulate and how much you really do not need.

Change #4:
I personally quit my job and now am able to full time pioneer. :) I am truly happy again.

Justin and I are really happy with the changes and can only thank Jehovah for what has happened. Now more then ever I see Jehovah's hand in our lives. I will always remember this time in our lives, so that when we go through hardships we remember the good God, Jehovah is.

Cousin's Gilead Going Away Party

My cousin and her husband were accepted to the 129th Class of Gilead. This past weekend there was a party for them back in Columbus so Steph and I went up to be there. We're so happy for them both, what a great privilege. There was a lot of family and old friends at their party which was an added bonus. They'll be leaving here in a few weeks, who knows maybe we'll be serving with them one day. :)



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JW Relief Work in Haiti Slideshow (English y Espanol)

Ingles

Jimani DR - Haiti JW Relief Work - English

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Espanol

Jimani DR - Haiti JW Relief Work - Spanish

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¡Adelante!

Last night after our meeting a few of us were able to practice the upcoming songs for this Sunday. Here's some of our hall singing ¡Adelante!

Jehovah's Witnesses in Haiti Earthquake Update

A brother and sister serving as bethelite's in Port au Prince have a website that they have been updating. You can visit their website here for more information. Please continue praying for our brothers and sisters.

http://a.thomazeau.org/

A Night to Remember....

So this might make you think "Oh they went somewhere romantic" or " Boy this sounds like the theme of my Prom." Nope that is not what this is about at all. What is there to say about last night. This is a story we will be telling our grandchildren about and laughing. So Justin and I decide to go to the Kingdom Hall to get a few things done. So we arrive there around 8:30 and stay until 10:00. We were just throwing out the last of the trash. As Justin says " One of us needs to open the trash can so the other can throw away the trash." I think "Ok that sounds right." Well when we come back to go inside we come to find out that the doors locked behind us. We have these doors at the Kingdom Hall that one side you lock behind you when you go in and the other you can push to open when you leave, but we forgot that that one locks behind you. Now we are standing outside in 20 degree weather and we can see our keys to the car, Kingdom Hall, and our phones inside. A wave of "I cant believe this just happened to us" crossed our faces. So what can we do, we have no money, no car, no keys, nothing. So we start to walk home. Remind you that it is 20 degrees, after 10 o'clock at night, I am wearing my Coach boots, jeans and a ski jacket, Justin is wearing jogging pants, sweatshirt, and running shoes (someone was prepared and someone wasn't LOL) and home is 8 miles away. So was we are running home we think is there anyone close by with a key. The closest couple is older and probably already in bed. So we had to run 8 miles all the way home. And remember this is Tennessee there are no flat places here. So we are running up and down hills. I so have a new appreciation for cars. Finally we made it home at 11 o'clock ( I know I can't believe we ran that fast either). Got the other car and my other Kingdom Hall key, drove back and unlocked the hall. Today Justin and I both have sore calves, but other then that we are fine. So what did this teach Justin: Never put your keys anywhere else but your pocket. And what did it teach me: Never wear your Coach boots when you go with Justin in case he leaves his keys somewhere and you have to run 8 miles to get home. LOL