At our team leader training over the weekend, Dr. Roberto updated the attendees on the progress at Mama Yoli’s House. The two photos show the difference a year of teams makes for the community of Atacucho.

The school year has started again here in Ixiamas. Most of the kids have come back from next year, and it is so good to see them again. They have grown so much in just two short months, just like the grass has grown incredibly fast with all the rain. We have 30 kids so far, but more have said they want to come to the internado. We will see how many actually show up!

The rice harvest went well this past weekend. We still have probably over half to go, but at least we should have enough rice to last for the whole year. That is a huge blessing because rice prices have sky rocketed since last year.

Please be praying for all the kids, and also those kids that haven’t gotten to the internado yet. It looks like we will have a great year this year!

Rachel

So today Jarred and I woke up expecting a normal day. That was before we were placed with the task of putting together Mary Beth´s shelf. It all started when I was going down to the river to put up a rope swing for the boys. I was seeing if Jarred wanted to come along but he told me that he was going to stay and put together the shelf thingy. I thought nothing of it and went to play. Coming back 45 min later I went to check on the progress to find a flustered Jarred standing over several black poles and couplers. I looked at the directions and after about ten seconds realized that they were useless. First we decided to move it outside so we could see better. Then began what became about an hour or more of wrong length poles into couplers that did not fit to using any tool we could find to make the pieces work. It was the most confusing thing I have ever done. You would think that with Jarred´s degree and my year and a half of college and not to mention a summer as a learn and serve counselor we could figure it out with relative ease but nope. After about an hour we finally got it together and in a very victorious moment placed it on the table were we eat so everyone could see what we did. They did not get it they just thought we were confused and were putting her shelf on the table because we thought she wanted it their ha. It was glorious. Besides shelves that have wrong instructions and different pieces all is well. The rice harvest went well it was hot but good we worked all day Saturday and then half day Sunday and got just about all of it harvested. We have lots of interesting stories from those two days alone that words do not do justice. Did you know that ten year old Bolivian kids know how to play chess? Neither did we but its freaking cool. ha…thanks for the prayers.

-Addison

As Addison said in an earlier post, we met Andreas, the farm hand, on the road last Monday after we had walked a good ways out towards Two Trees. He said a bunch of words we didnt understand, showed us some rice stalks, and shook his head no. He said Sabado and Domingo. With this said, we will try again to harvest some of the rice crop tomorrow and Sunday.
Today, Rachel surprised us with a box of Chocolate cereal (I think the brand was chicapita?) and a can of powdered milk. I have never been so excited about the thought of a bowl of cereal, even if it is chicapita with a crazy dog on the box diving into the cereal and powdered milk. Any cereal but ¨rice¨ krispies. It especially was a treat since the morning had been a little rough. Both of us still have some adjusting to do. Addison has an ant bite on top of an ant bite and a 7th degress sunburn on his neck. He also accidently knocked over the porcelain sink today. It broke. – Jarred

So the internet has been down for three days because of the winds from the south out of patagonia. All is well though. My birthday was sunday and it was great. I spent is with Mateo, Judith, Jarred, Andres, Rachel, and Pastor. They made cupcakes with bananas. They shoved them in my face or tried to because it is custom. It was a blast.

I am now extremely sunburnt because I thought is was cool to not wear a shirt. I am suddenly wishing I had worn one. We did not harvest rice on monday it was a very interesting ordeal. We headed out to our land or Chaco to harvest rice it is about three miles or so and we borrowed bikes from in town. We forgot the fact the me and Jarred are both over six two and Bolivian people are slightly shorter. We thought it would not be a problem. We started that way and were going to meet pastor who was walking on the way. We got about half a mile and Jarred who was behind me busted a tire. I was not aware and kept riding. About two miles later I looked back and Jarred was nowhere to be found. Then I saw a man in the distance coming the other way and it just happened to be Andres the farm hand who had taken the moto to get fixed the day before and never returned. He told me the rice was not ready to harvest so we needed to head back. About this time we see jarred slowly making his was towards us pushing his bike…ha…he had pushed it for two miles to find out that we needed to turn around. It was a long two and a half miles walk back with both of our bikes. It rains a lot here and it just so happened to start on the way back. It was a sight we looked like wet dogs with broken bikes and enough food and water for the day. This was all before ten thirty. Good morning for us…ha…

We have a motorcycle here at the entranada that I have come very close with. Mom everything I am doing is safe do not worry. I only want the people to know the truth…haha…I decided it was time that I try out the Moto on monday afternoon. It is a manual and kinda not the biggest moto but me and Jarred both fit on it together. After probably seven times to stall out I finally got it and rode for a little while. I felt that I was a professional…ha…Rachel told me to go to town with Fidel ,one of the fourteen year old boys, since I was a pro on the Moto. After three time to stall out we got it into town. I did not know that we were going to buy about one hundred and fifty pounds of food. After getting it all Fidel told me the we needed to make two trips to get it all back. I figured it would be fine. I get on the moto and crank it up and release the clutch to much again and stall out, that was one. I did this in the middle of the town while everyone stood and laughed four more times ha…I was making jokes as much as I could to not embarrass, I dont know if I spelled that right I just asked rachel and we dont know, anyway embarrass Fidel. We finally made it back to the entranada the Fidel told me we did not need to take the Moto back we needed a wheelbarrow….ha…I think I know why. When we got back I practiced some more on the moto and felt good about it in the proccess we messed up the wire connecting the accelerator. The next day we went and got it fixed and all was good so me and Fidel got gas and headed back to the entranada. I had just put it into second gear and was accelerating when I heard what I thought was a rock hit the bottom…I wish it had been rock…for about ten feet I heard it then the next thing I knew me and Fidel were fishtailing back and forth out of control. Ha I had no idea what was happening putting my feet down we thankfully did not flip but when we finally stopped I finally realized what had happen….after asking Fidel..ha…the had blown a link on the chain and it had lodged inbetween the back tire and the axil…ha..so I was pretty bummed because the entranada was about mile or so away and the back tire would not move ha…thankfully a man came and helped me get it unstuck ha…so I am pretty proud of my first wreck on a moto in bolivia with a kid on the back…ha..all is well now though me and Fidel went two miles out to pick up rice hust today and brought back to thirty pound sacks on the moto. Many more adventures to come..they are about to close the internet place and kick us out to maybe tommorrow. Thanks for the prayers.

Addison-