Our short-term mission (STM) team leader training will be held this weekend, February 15-17, 2008, on our campus. Peggy Walker, international team coordinator, and Kathy Bryson, international training director, are planning a great weekend for our leaders to learn about SIFAT, cross cultural bridge building and trip preparation.

If you are a team leader, please fill out a registration form (download a PDF or a Word document) and return it to Peggy. The first part of the form is logistical information, and the second part is a short series of questions to help us provide the most valuable breakout sessions.

Registration begins at 3 p.m., and campus tours will be available at 3:30. Dinner will begin promptly at 6 p.m. Friday night. We look forward to seeing our team leaders!

Hello everyone we finally made it to Ixiamas. It was a long ride that started yesterday at about twelve and ended today at about three. We rode all night and probably slept about two hours so we are pretty tired but glad to be here. On the bus I sat next a man named Carlos from Ixiamas. Carlos is a stud needless to say. When we were on the death rode Carlos ,who had the window seat, would lean my way and close his eyes. He had taken this route several times but still got kinda scared. It was cool to hear his story. We are about to get showers and then get some food. Thanks for all the prayers for safe travel it really helped. School starts monday and we also start harvesting rice on monday so more prayers needed. Oh yeah and its hot and I love it.

Dios es amor,

Addison

Rachel, Mateo, Judith, Addison, and I arrived in Ixiamas about two hours ago. We are all fairly tired from the 26 hour trip from La Paz. I think Addison and I had about 5 hours combined sleep since Friday morning. Ixiamas seems to be a nice little town but we atill have some exploring to do. The kids should be arriving at the Internado sometime tomorrow since classes begin on Monday. I think Addison and I have already been ¨hired¨ to harvest some rice on Monday. I am sure it will be a fun and educational experience.- Jarred

Hola everyone, all is well. Last night we went to the Bolivia vs Peru soccer game and it was quite amazing. Bolivia won 2 to 1 so big victory for the home country. I have never been to a game with so much energy at certain points. It was a blast. We caught a soccer ball that was thrown into the stands, we both were pretty pumped. We woke up this morning and headed to the market with Rachel, Mateo, and Judith. We got supplies for Ixiamas and just walked around for about four hours then had lunch. It was interesting because it was up in the altiplano region just outside of La Paz and the people were not really used to seeing (Greengos) or basically Caucasian people. We got a lot that we needed though so we will be ready for Ixiamos. After the market we went to Mateo’s house to meet his ‘family – Addison

Mateos family were extremely nice and welcoming. We looked at a ton of pictures and played with his nephew, Ziki, and two neices Paola and Nicole. They were alot of fun. Mateo’s sister-in-law gave us a mug of arroz con leche which was delicious. Basically, it was just hot milk, rice, and cinnamon. We played with lots of stuffed animals including pumba, simba, nala, a panda bear, and a killer whale. We leave for Ixiamas tomorrow at 11 am and are excited about getting to work at the internado.-Jarred

We made it to La Paz! The flight went well and all is good. Jarred got stopped at both security checkpoints because he is a pretty suspicious person, but other than that no troubles getting into the country. Woke up at 4 am on the plane to catch the sunrise, it was amazing. We flew over the mountians while the sun was coming up and all I can come up with is that Gods pretty big. The city is very interesting, even as I type I can barely think because of all the car horns and yelling from buses. I think we are going to a soccer game tonight so that should be fun. Keep us in your prayers. Miss and love you mom, dad, tay, cars, boo, and cam.

Mucho amor,

Addison