The last week has been rather quiet around the Internado. Rachel is back and we are so glad to have her. Unfortunaelty she had to return to a lost puppy, sneakers. We did everything in our power to return her before Rachel got back, announcements over the radio in town, we even offered a reward. But, alas no found puppy. So to lessen Rachel’s pain, several of the chicas brought puppies to the internado to replace Sneakers. Needless to say after two new additions to the Internado zoo, Sneakers was found, and the Internado dog count was up five. Yet, the abundance of puppies was not to last, Hermano Matteo mandated that all puppies, excluding Sneakers, be returned to from whence they came.

Saturday evening we experienced our first Boivian beauty pagaent at the colegio. Satina, one of the chicas from the internado, was choosen as one of the 2 representatives from her class. In an indeavor to support her, me, Vicky, and Olivia decided to brave the crowds and attend the pagaent. The pageant turned out to be similar to the pagaents we were used to, except for the typical dress, which consists of costumes, with seeds, sunflowers and grass. It was very interesting. Unfortunaetly Satina did not win, but she looked stunning and maintained her grace throughout the show. It was a wonderful way for us to experience more of Bolivian culture before we have to leave.

Tu hermana in Christ- Katie

 Rachel asked me to teach computer and English lessons. I have almost 6 classess a day, and a Chinese class with 2-3 boys. And a session/playtime with the elementary kids, 6 of them..

I think my favorite is my time with the elementary kids. We just read stories and play and do crafts. Its more like  a Sunday School.

 
 
The other day, I taught the kids to do stamping on cards. I told them to make cards for their mother for Mother’s Day. One kid, Julio said I don’t have my mother, she passed away when I was 7. The other kid, Zorayda said,”I don’t have a mother too.” Another kid reacted, no we have.(her sister) Zorayda said, (she is like 9 years old but she looks like 6 years old),  “I don’t like my mother. She left us and she has  another boy”.

They still made the cards, and they got crazy about stamping.  They stamped the whole page of the cards with different images and colors. The two of them, wrote: “ Para mi padre (for my father)”

( for a mother’s day card)”.

 

It is the last day.  Jarred and I board a plan for Santa Cruz, Miami, and then Atlanta tommorrow at 6:45am.  Since tuesday we have been staying in El Alto with Filex and Christina Toremino and their three beautiful children Paula, Nicole, and Israel.  Filex is Mateo’s brother (Mateo being the director of the Internada).  We went to church with them last night and it was awesome.  Today we just got back from the Zoo and I dont even have to say anymore about that.  It was a blast.  This morning we woke up at 5:00 to pick Vicky up.  She is safe and sound in the Hotel as we speak.  She is a little tired from two days straight in a plane changing over in Manilla, Tokyo, Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, then finally arriving in La Paz.  She is a champ and is only a little out of it from the altittude.  I think I can speak for Jarred and myself when I say that the hearts and lives of the people we have come in contact with has been what has meant the most to us both.  We have not had time to sit back and fully take it all in but we know we will remember the faces of the people who have shown us the love of a God in all the have done. -Addison

This past saturday Jarred, Mateo, Rachel and I took all our boys to El Tigre.  El Tigre is a smaller villiage about 35 miles north of Ixiamas.  We left early Saturday morning and after the four hour drive we arrived to one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  The road turned into a huge soccer field right on the edge of the mountians of Maddidi National Park.  We had sent a letter earlier to tell the town we were bringing our team from the Internada to play them.  We played six games of soccer in thirty six hours.  Ha is was a blast.  In the first four games Jarred only allowed two goals.  He played goalie for most of the games.  Lets just say with hands like a cat, eyes like a hawk, and the aggression of a medium size T-Rex, he was the man for the job.  It was one of the most fun weekends I have had and I think for Jarred probably also.  It was great to get to play with the boys because they are all really good and they make me look good.  I had five goals and three by basically standing and using my head.  NOTE: Bolivians are short.  When we arrived to Tigre all of the kids from the villiage brought us fresh fruit.  It was so cool.  They brought so much fruit we took a bag home with us.  That night we watched a movie with the whole villiage basically.  I dont know the exact number but there were probably 150 people for the movie.  The town hosted us and cooked all the meals for us and were just so amazingly warm to us.  It was a time that I saw God in the hearts of the people there.  With warm smiles and open arms they gave freely of what they had without hesitation.  Thank God for the people of El Tigre.  Jarred and I are back in La Paz now.  We landed about an hour ago.  We flew back from Rurre this time.  We woke up and caught the mini bus at four this morning and then waited for our flight at 3:00.  It was a 45 min flight otherwise it was gonna be another 18 hour bus ride.  It was worth the fifty bucks ha.  Friday we head to Peru, but first to show and tell for Mateo the Internada Directors niece at her school in the altiplano…haha..should be fun.

We cased early this morning and backwashed for about two hours.  We started to develop the well and were getting a rebound of three meters which on the well at the Internado we got only about a meter maybe.  We continued to pump the well and develop it and we could not pump it dry, which is good.  Just after lunch before we put our final pump on we had a rebound of thirteen meters.  Praise God.  This well will make and produce enough water.  There are times when the Hospital does not have water and now they can get it whenever they want.  This is a huge blessing from God and all the glory goes to him.  We have a few final touches on this one and after that they are set.  Thanks for the prayers.  They have worked.  Addison-