Bolivia

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Over the weekend four of the five of us girls took a trip to Ixiamas which is straight north of Rurre. It is about a three hour drive in normal conditions. So we set off on Thursday with all our stuff and extra food and literature for the brothers there in a taxi van. We drive for three hours on rough road, crossing many rivers, literally. Until finally we get to one river that is too deep to cross. We had no choice but to turn around, huge bummer. But we came back the next day to try again and made it successfully all the way.

Ixiamas is an independent group of about 20 brothers and sisters. They have a couple special pioneers and several brothers and sisters who have moved there to help. We went out in service with them and to the meeting. They were such an unbelievably friendly group of people, and you could tell they were all very close to each other. The average meeting attendance is in the 50s, so they have many progressive studies. Then, on Monday, we helped build a fence for the Kingdom Hall. Their Hall, by the way, was built only on the meager donations of that small group, but they have a dignified place of worship. Finally Monday night, the whole group and many studies got together at the house of family for dinner and Spanish dancing. When saying goodbye, many were grateful that we had come to visit.

We are back in Rurre again, but only for one more week. Then we fly back to La Paz and then Santa Cruz for one more week!

Santa Rosa

Monday, February 24, 2014

Day 41

Over the weekend all of us girls and two Bolivian sisters all went to the town of Santa Rosa. It was about a 4 hour drive in a 4 wheel drive vehicle, which was necessary because the road was rough. It was full of ruts and super muddy and huge lake of water and rivers running over the road. Definitely not a smooth ride haha. Also, there were tons of dead cows and horses all along the side of the road. Because of all the flooding all the animals went to dry ground and so did the snakes so they died of snake bites and lack of food. Then when we got almost to Santa Rosa there was a huge line of trucks and we couldn't drive any farther because a huge river washed out the road. So we had to grab all our gear, which included tents, sleeping bags, food, and all our clothes for the weekend. We then had to carry it all about a half hour into town and then a brother picked us up with his truck and we threw all our luggage in the back and then sat on top of it on our way to our lodging, aka the Kingdom Hall. A special pioneer couple lives in a house right behind the hall but since all the flooding, they are sleeping in the Kingdom Hall, so we did too. We set up our tents inside on the floor, to keep out the mosquitos. But it was so interesting to visit, because Santa Rosa is even worse off than Rurre. So many of the roads in town were flooded, and they weren't getting food into town because of the bad road, and they still don't have gas or bottled water.

On Saturday we went out in service in the morning and then two brothers took us on a river tour in the afternoon. The roads were so flooded than we actually were on the boat about a half hour until we made it to the actual river. But it was so beautiful and we got to see so many animals. We saw: all sorts of beautiful strange birds, emus, alligators, capybara (which is a real life ROUS), pink fresh water dolphins, a sloth, turtles, and monkeys. At one point he pulled the boat up to a tree full of adorable monkeys and they walked right up to us and even jumped onto our boat. Later we got to an area where the dolphins hang out and we jumped in and swam with them :) I didn't actually touch one but they swam so close! It was so cool because we got to see every animal we wanted. Sometimes you can pay for a tour and see nothing at all.

We got to meet the brothers and sisters, which didn't take long. Its only a group, and I think about half their meeting attendance is children. Their average attendance is about 20, so there are only a few baptized publishers. I think we doubled their meeting attendance on Sunday. But the kids commented so much and were so eager to comment, it was so sweet.