Fairwell from the Bolivia 2009 team. Thank you for all your support and prayers during this adventure. We look forward to sharing the stories and experiences that we enjoyed during the past two weeks. We arrived back home around 2AM February 20th.

We thought we would put together a calender that we could use as a fundraiser for the Bolivia 2010 trip. What do you think about this as the January calander page? We should sell at least 3 copies.

On our last day in Bolivia we went on a road trip to Lake Titicaca. Here are a few shots from this journey.

Parliment building in La Paz

People at the parliment building.

City of La Paz

The scenery on the way to La Paz. The journey was 335 km and took 6 hours to travel complete with incredible switchbacks and amazing elevation.

The road from Cochabamba to LaPaz. This is the highest elevation at 4496 meters. Yes the air was thin.

We were invited to Ivan parents home for a fairwell Supper. The food and fellowship were fabulous.

Our last meal with the Missionary's in Cochabamba.

The shopping that some of guys did here would make most women proud but i am sure there will be happy grandkids back home.

The market was similar to a giant flee market in Canada. Complete with Flees (Ask Curt) The ilses were about two blocks long with 6-8 rows. Each row with a different type of product.

During some of our free time we went shopping. Here are a few pictures from the market in Cochabamba

Our second football game this time between the two local Cochabamba teams. This game was almost sold out.

This picture is from a town about 45 minutes from Mizque. This Catholic church was build after the earth quake. It has two bell tower and the grounds are perfectly manicured. Quite a contrast...

More pictures of the country side around Tujmas

This picture is from the church service on Sunday in Mizque. Tim preached, while Ivan tranlated. This will be a memory that we will not easily forget. There was a wedding in the church last week and the white streamers are actually toilet paper used for decorating. Made each one of us wonder how much money we could have saved on decorations for our weddings????:)

The walk from the gravel pile to house three was fairly steep on very slippery so we Tim, Ken and I took turn hauling the gravel up the hill. Five wheel barrels full per bag of concrete.

One last Heart for you courtesy of the concrete mixing pile. Here we are preparing to mix the concrete for House 3

We could not get us all in the same photo and nobody could be left out.

Valentine's Love Sent to you from your significant other. You have know idea how long it took us to find this perfect gift for you. We love you and miss you and will see you soon.

Locals celebrating Carnival which is similar to Mardi Gras. The celebration before Lent.

Hanging out in the town square learning how to tie a this blanket so you can carry things like the locals.

Mixing Concrete the old fashion way.

Emigdio giving Curt his birthday flowers.

Photo with family of House 2. Yolanda, with her daughter and her dad. There must have been a mistake earlier because Kenny Rogers wasnt here but Sean Connery admits to be present.

After you haul out the dirt you bring in these rocks. Making them as level and tight as possible, kind of like playing tetris. The next step is to mix and pour the concrete

Hauling of dirt out of house 3. With the tools you see in the picture.

Hauling of dirt out of house 3. With the tools you see in the picture.

A Mizque Wheel Barrow. Hauling out the dirt to prep for pouring concrete

Today (Feb 13) we finish day five working on the houses. We completely finished house number two and prepped house number 3. We have half of this house plastered and the floor is ready to pour the concrete. Tomorrow our goal is to pour the concrete and plaster the ceiling and walls. This we will be our last day working in Tajmas and we would like to get as mush done as possible. For the most part we are all well. Some are sleeping better than others. Some are enjoying the church bells more than others. The bells go off every 15 minutes with a long and rather “melodious song” at 6:30 am. Those fortunate enough to be sleeping on the right side of the hotel don’t here a thing. No so fortunate for the others.

Tonight after supper we spent time in the square. You have to imagine that the square is full of people and there are 7 gringos trying to learn how to tie an aquayo (blanket that the locals women use to carry theire baby’s. I cannot image what the people were thinking but everyone was having a good time.

Yesterday we celebrated another birthday. Curt turned older and we have a special cake, which was quite a nice change from our regular diet in Mizque. We have bread and jam everyday for breakfast and fries, rice and a thin “steak” for lunch and supper everyday. I am beginning to understand in a very small way how the Israelites felt about mana.

As you have found out by now. We do have access to internet here in Mizque but there is not a lot of time for me to spend updating the blog. Once we get back to Mizque shower and have some supper there may be an hour left before the library closes. So what I will try to do is post pictures so you can see and then when time permits update them with explanations later. The internet here is not very fast so I will do may best to post as many picture as possible

The work we are doing is a little different than we thought. We had envisioned removing thatch roofs building trusses, and sheeting the roof. So far the houses we have worked on have tin roof already with adobe bricks. What we do with this is cote the walls with ½ inch of plaster/cement type substance. The next phase is to frame out the ceiling tack chicken wire/ mesh to the boards and than spread the plaster. Once this is done the floor is leveled and concrete is poured. The house now becomes a contained area with no cracks or crevices where the Chagas bug can hide. Tuesday was our training day. They have hired a local contract to work with us and he has shown us how to do the process.

The town we are working in is call Tujmas (Tookma) is ten minutes for Mizque. The first house we did for a widow name Nicolasa she has seven children age 4 – 20. Two of the children in the photo are her children the boy wearing number 9 is Wilber and older girl Julieta. The young boy is her grandson who lives next door. The other child we are not sure where they belong. The Bolivian man in the photo is the contractor who we are working with.

Today we will finish the wall on the first house and start a second house. We are waiting for the wood to be delivered to frame the ceiling.

I call this next section DEEP THOUGHTS WITH ROB

What does it mean to be Christ’s ambassador in this world?

I think a simple answer to this is seeing a need and filling it. I can give you many of this that I have witnessed during trip already. Where these men I am with show what is at their core. What man of character they are. What Godly men they are.

The computer doesn’t work well at the CBM in Bolivia but after an hour or two of tweaking it is much better.

Nicolasa’s wheel barrow is not working, the wheel is broken, so five Canadian dollars later and little bit of time and things are good to go. Before that she was carrying everything of her back in a sack.

The children, how these children seem to love to interact with us and help us do our work and play with us. Although there is a language barrier this melts away when the Conquistadors (that’s what they call me a least)

We are all doing well and I know for sure that if it were not for your prayers this adventure could have gone sideway at may different points.

This the Chagas Bug. It is not alive in case you were wondering

Here is the one of the houses we are working on. This is the before picture. A widow with 7 children live here.

Mizque Town Centre

This is our Hotel. Possibly the nicest building in town.

Town Market

Pictures from Mizque