Kingdom Hall Construction

Day 14

We took the bus from Vallegrande to Cochabamba overnight Saturday night and met up with two friends from Colorado and then rode together to La Paz. One of them lives in Rurrenabaque, where we are headed to. We were going to stay one night in La Paz and leave Monday but there have been heavy rains there resulting in landslides and flooding. The whole town is also without gas, water, or electricity. The brothers have advised us to wait until conditions are better, so we are staying with a witness family in La Paz for a few days.

Yesterday we drove around the city checking out the sights. La Paz is the most interesting city I have ever seen. It has an altitude of 11,811 feet, and sits in the middle of the mountains. It looks like it should be a national park in Utah, except there are millions of houses shoved in the rocks and on the hillsides. There are lots of things to do, which is nice. We met some friends the other night at the mall and then yesterday met some more friends at a cafe. One couple just moved here two months ago from the New York City.

Today we are hanging out at a cafe getting our internet fix (ahh), and then we are going to their meeting tonight. Also, our Spanish has been getting so much better. When we first got here, people talked so fast, we couldn't understand a thing. But since most people in Vallegrande couldn't speak Spanish, we really got our practice in. Also, I have a pretty good Spanish vocabulary of construction tools and such, if I ever need that in the future haha.

Hopefully conditions improve soon so we can head to Rurre!

Week 1 Pictures

Day 11

We worked all week, five days, on the construction project. It was in the heat under the scorching sun, and it was hard, physical labor but it was so worth it. Each day we would go back to our hotel and relax for a little bit then go to bed by 10 because we were so tired. We had to shovel mud out of the trenches the day after it rained, and we shoveled dirt and sand and rocks almost every day. I think it was more shoveling than I have ever done, but I still loved it. We also helped lay blocks for the foundation and bricks for the wall and filled them with mortar. It was such a great experience to meet people from all over the world to help with the construction. I truly loved all of it, the work, the association, and even the funky tan lines :) Today is our last day in Vallegrande. We are taking the bus out tonight to begin our long journey to Rurrenabaque. We are sad to leave behind the new friends we´ve made, but there are lots of great things to come.

Day 6

We went to the meeting Saturday, it was very nice, but so crowded because of all the visitors for the Kingdom Hall construction. I don´t think everyone got a seat, but we came early enough so we did have one :)

Sunday we worked in the kitchen all day, starting at 6 a.m. The kitchen they use is actually from the house of a family from the hall, but it has a nice big kitchen and dining area. Everyone leaves the work site at lunchtime and comes to the house for lunch, but they have to do it in two shifts because there are about 50 workers, who don´t all fit in the dining room.

Today we worked at the construction site, doing whatever they needed. We did some site cleanup, helped shovel sand and rocks to make cement, and layed cinder blocks for the foundation. In the middle of the afternoon it poured so we all huddled into a tiny shelter to wait it out. After the rain stopped, we had to continue working for a little bit, and it was incredibly muddy all over the site. We had to help dig the rainwater out of the trenches with buckets so they could continue working on the foundation. Now we are muddy and tired, but it was so worth it!

It is also very interesting working on this project, because there is a group of 20 some brothers and sisters that bethel organizes, and they all travel together all over the country working on one KH build after another. They have to stay with families from the hall and deal with whatever circumstances they get. They take the lead in the build and help the locals with safety and construction. Also, they invite volunteers from other congregations to come and help each week. And of course the locals from the congregation are working too. There are a few people who are helping with the project, who are originally from England and some from Denmark. It´s really interesting to work with such a mix of people (and languages), but of course it works so well because we all serve Jehovah.

We will be working through Thursday of this week, and then on to Rurrenabaque for the remainder of our trip. The computers are painfully slow, so it´s not worth uploading many pictures. I´m sorry, I will try to upload more when I can.

Day 4

Day 3

We met for service at their (tiny) Kindgdom hall this morning. I see why they are building a new one. They had a nice big group for service, although, I believe many of them were from Santa Cruz and are up here to help build the hall for a week. We split into different groups and walked to the territory, the whole morning, from about 9 to 11 a.m. It was getting hot at that point and our feet hurt so bad, but it was definitely worth it! It was so nice to meet the brothers and sisters and learn about them. At the end of the morning, a few from the hall were so nice and offered to go out to lunch with us. They took us to a delicious Chinese restaraunt and were very fun to talk to. They tried hard to communicate with us, either in English or in Spanish, so that we could understand. I even got some of their humor haha. We got invited to go hiking up one of the mountains later this afternoon with a group from the hall. I´m sure it will be beautiful! Tomorrow we will go in service again for the morning and then their meeting is tomorrow night at 7:30. Then they work on their new Kingdom hall on Sundays through Thursdays. I forgot to bring my camera cord with me to the internet cafe (sorry) but I will try hard to remember next time so you can see some pictures!