Going to Edmundo's

Today we went to go see a brother, Edmundo, that lives up in the mountains. He lives there with his wife. It is a 45 minute walk up the mountains. He has a wonderful view of the city and was nice enough to let us ride his horse. I really enjoyed that. He showed us around the mountain a little and showed us where the two rivers meet to actually make Entre Rios. At the end Edmundo told us that he was the only witness with his wife in Entre Rios for 3 years. He said they never got new literature and he felt very isolated from the organization. We told him he won't feel like that again.

Entre Rios. That is the whole pueblo.

Getting on the horse.

Riding around the yard.

Justin got on as well. He looked huge on the horse.

After we got off the horse. I think he was happy we were off. LOL

To the east of Entre Rios. The farmland.

Me, Justin and Edmundo. Brandon took the picture for us.

Our Entre Rios Move Nov. 1st - Nov. 4th

So we are finally here in Entre Rios. It was a lot of work packing, moving, and fixing up the house. But we are finally done...somewhat. When we arrived the house was a disaster. The pictures do not even demonstrate how bad it really was. There was so many things on the walls and floors we could not identify. But after 4 days of cleaning, painting, cleaning and scrubbing it is now comfortable enough to live in. There are still a few fixes needed...like screens in the windows, doors need fixed, window put in the bathroom (only a sheet is there now) and a wall fixed for leaks. But at least it is clean and we feel comfortable. Bella is doing great. She loves all the space, but I think she misses running up the poles in our other place. We went in service yesterday and had a great day. I have a possibility for 3 studies. We had such a nice time. The group here is so nice and really helpful. I think we are going to love it here.

Hoagie sad that we are moving

Gabriel helping us pack up the truck for the 1st load of furniture.

The 1st truck loaded and ready to go.

Driving through the mountains to our new home.

We had to back up so this truck could pass.

 

Bella was not happy, but was quiet and good the entire 3 hours.

 

When we first got in the house. Our soon to be kitchen.

Cleaning the tape off the walls and scrapping the old paint off.

Before: The living room.

Before: The guest room.

Before: One of the windows.

Before: Our Room.

Before: The Kitchen

Before: The guest room.

Before: The guest room.

Slowly getting fixed.

Our makeshift kitchen for 3 days.

Workers painting the rooms.

We were told the electricity never goes out here. Guess it does.

Lite some candles for light.

Bella sleeping by candlelight.

Scrubbing the paint off the floors in our room.

Kitchen is almost done.

After: Our living room.

After: Our bedroom.

After: Our kitchen.

After many times scrubbing it. Our Bathroom.

Preaching after a few days of fixing up the house.

Tarija Going Away Party

It seems like just yesterday that we arrived to Tarija Bolivia unsure and excited about what lay ahead and now one year later we find ourselves in the same situation.  As was posted previously, we are moving to a remote area called Entre Rios, so our congregation here in Tarija who we've gotten really close to and created great memories with threw us a going away party last night.  It was a really stormy evening and most of the brothers and sisters don't have a vehicle but they came anyway.  It really warmed our hearts to see the love of the brothers and sisters here and it reminded us of how close we have become.  This time around instead of doing traditional Tarija dances like they did for our welcome party, the kids did a traditional dance from the area that we're moving to.  A lot of effort was put into last night from the dance to the food to the music and it showed.  It's bittersweet for us to be leaving but we'll never forget our first year in Bolivia that we've shared with our family in the congregation Sur.

The Kids After Dancing

More Dancing!

Resting With Bob & Reenie

Steph With The Girls (They adore her)

Pioneer School

These past two weeks have been incredible.  Many of my friends and Stephanie have had the privilege of going to Pioneer Service School so I was very grateful to get my shot.  At the end everyone was crying, the organization is truly wonderful offering us so much education.  Now that the school is over I can help Steph  as we prepare for our new assignment.

Pioneer School Picture

Stephanie and I the day our congregation had hospitality

WE HAVE NEWS!!

So last week while Justin was in Pioneer School our Circuit Overseer pulled him aside and asked if we would like to serve were the need was really great. He said he had prayed about it and thought we would be the best choice. That made me feel awesome. So Justin called me and immediately I said sure. So we met with the C.O and talked about what would be needed there and how we can help. We decided to go and visit it this weekend. The city is Entre Rios, Bolivia. You get there by bus(4 hours) or taxi(3 hours). Even though it looks super close on the map the road is the bumpiest, curviest road ever. Think of the most curviest road in the world and this is definitely worse. But the closer you get to Entre Rios the more beautiful it is. It is surprisingly greener and super tiny. It is a bit of a culture shock how little it is. So yesterday we started looking for places to rent. We walked up and down the streets asking people about places to rent. We found one and called the number posted on the door. She said she would visit us at 2pm. Well that ended up being 3:15pm. When we went inside it was super dirty and nasty. They were asking a really high price for it as well. But since it was the only place there we said we would try to live there. But we were still a little uncomfortable with it. So after much prayer we went to the meeting. It was held in the back of some house under a tin roof. We had about 12 chairs and all were full. We sang songs with a boombox accompanying us. The meeting went really well. There was one elder and one ministerial servant. After the meeting we met the new ones and the ones studying. While talking to one family, they said they had a place to rent. We got really excited. They said we could come that night to see it. So we went with them. Turned out that it was the house behind the other house we were thinking of getting. It is really big, for what we are use too. It was not the cleanest and some one was living in it. But they said they are moving out in a week so we can have it. He is going to repaint everything and clean it really good. I know the pics look scary, but it is not that bad. We can even get internet in the house and the study knows someone who can help us move all of our furniture. It was an answer to our prayers. After that we returned to our "hotel", it was really a hostel. The whole night we were sweating and listening to everything going on outside. It was a real experience. But we survived our first night and are ready for many more.

Our living room

Our living room

Our dining room, Bedroom has blue sheet on it.

Our Kitchen

Our Kitchen, no sink, it's outdoors

Only plaza in town

Our "Hotel"

Pam, Willey and Justin. They came this past May and he is the only elder here.

Our temporary Kingdom Hall. There is not enough publishers for Kingdom Hall.

Our Room in the "Hotel"