- Branch / Zone Visit
- New Public Witnessing Cart Results
- A visit to Cochabamba
- Goodbye to Dear Friends
- Finding online work
- Service Experiences
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| Our Kingdom Hall was filled for Geoffrey Jackson's talk |
What a treat it was to have Geoffrey Jackson visit Bolivia. It was a historical meeting for Bolivia! Why? In preparation for the visit the branch required every Kingdom Hall hook up internet and acquire (borrow, rent or buy) a projector or television. Then when Br. Jackson came, there was a 3 hour mini-assembly at the Assembly Hall site in Santa Cruz that was broadcast all across the country. Over 17,000 were tied into the morning broadcast (other congregations would receive the recorded program later in the day during their regularly scheduled meeting times). Br. Jackson's many and colorful illustrations captured everyone's attention and made for a delightful program. The best part ... his talk was in English and translated into Spanish so we understood every single word! Something new too, he even prayed in English and had that translated. What a treasure having such encouraging spiritual food "at the right time."
New Public Witnessing Cart Results
We finally got our new public witnessing carts last month. On our first time out with the cart last month, during just 3 hours, we placed 23 books, 23 magazines and 15 brochures. Plus we got nine names and addresses requesting follow ups.
A Visit to Cochabamba
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| Various vistas of the Palacio Portales |
The first thing we noticed was the temperature change. I forgot to bring my shorts and paid the price. We managed to get quite burnt the few days we were there.
The pictures to the right are of the Palacio Portales - It was built in the early 1900s by a Bolivian millionaire known as the "Tin Baron". It was designed by a French architect and the gardens were designed to resemble those of the Versailles Palace in Paris.
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| Cochabamba's Cristo Rey teleferico |
Cochabamba had a beautiful viewpoint. It is accessed by a "teleferico" or gondola style cable lift that you can see in the picture to the left.
Nothing tests your level of "bravery" like getting in a rickety Bolivian gondola. Even one of the windows was broken.
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| View from the top - Cochabamba |
Here we are at the top (to the right). From up there we could see the whole city sprawled in the valley. It certainly is larger than Oruro. It has a population of around 600,000 in the city limits and almost 2 million if you include the surrounding areas, which are so closely intertwined with the city it's hard to tell where one ends and the other starts.
The mountains around it are snow-capped despite the summer weather. We found out there are mountain climbing expeditions to the higher peaks and large archaeological ruins that can be visited by day trips from the city. Maybe next time.
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| Rachel with children at the local orphanage |
While there Rachel got the joy of going on Bible Studies with Sabrina. When one of the bible studies wasn't available they visited the local orphanage to drop off Caleb videos that were requested on Sabrina's last visit.The children are very affectionate and call all visitors "mom" or "dad", using the power of suggestion (little manipulators).
The children were mainly cute and adorable, except one little naughty girl who tried to steal Rachel's tablet. When Rachel took it back she smacked Rachel on the bum. Her chances for adoption went WAY down.
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| Rachel, Sabrina, Heidi and William |
After that we went to the Botanical Gardens. They were gorgeous. And so were our hosts for the week!
From left to right in the picture on the right - Rachel, Sabrina, Heidi and William.
Below you can see the vastness and tropical nature of the gardens.
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| Enjoying real summer in Cochabamba's Botanical Gardens |
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| Bringing art to life! |
We took an artistic moment. Rachel wanted to get naked for this but I refused. Just kidding!! (Rachel made me write "just kidding" - as if you didn't already know that!!).
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| Householder in Cochabamba |
While in Cochabamba Rachel even got to be a last-minute householder for Heidi's talk. This was Rachel's second time being involved with a Spanish talk. Despite her natural stage fright and struggles with the language she did amazing. She said one thing that helped her was knowing she wasn't the only "guera / gringa". It was nice being in a congregation that had 3 other families serving as need greaters.
After the meeting we went up and enjoyed beers on the apartment rooftop patio with one of the families from the US. The parents and their 3 children (17, 15 and 11 yrs old) sold everything and moved to Cochabamba. They chose a city where the family could be comfortable and adjust to their new life. They even found a brewery that delivers beer right to their door. It was so nice associating with new friends and enjoying a stout on a warm summer evening under the stars.
Goodbye to Dear Friends
On a sad note, our Cochabamba friends are returning to Canada for health reasons. We will miss them dearly. Anyone from Calgary who may be reading, take good care of them for us, they're precious!
And the 'chaps' that invited us to their 'flat' and made us feel so welcome when we arrived in Oruro, our British need-greater friends Chris and Rebecca, have now moved to Potosi at the CO's request - a 6 hour bus ride away. That's 'brilliantly bad!' ... Sorry ... just need to wallow in self pity for a moment ... okay, I'm fine now.
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| My new office |
It is amazing how Jehovah provides. From a friend of a friend we heard about a job opportunity teaching English online. Just what we needed to help pay the bills.
It involved moving the office out of the bedroom as I will be starting about 5:30 am, but I got a nice office set up now - it makes me happy.
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| showing videos in service |
Service Experiences
I was a big skeptic of the use of tablets before coming to Bolivia. I resisted purchasing one because I already had a laptop and a smart phone. It seemed like over-consumption bordering on materialism. But ... this may be the only time I will utter these words ... I was wrong!
Almost everyday in the ministry we are showing videos - why study the bible, what are our bible study courses, what are our meetings, Caleb etc ... Add to that the need to show videos in Aymara, Quechua and Bolivian Sign and our tablets are our most used ministry tools here in Oruro.
In the picture on the right I'm showing the why study the bible video to a young woman and her family.
Besides showing videos we get lots of opportunity to witness and have bible studies. It is so heartwarming to show up at a studies home and to hear the young children come running and greeting me "Hermano Troy, Hermano Troy" (Brother Troy, Brother Troy).
On one such study my heart almost got ripped out of my chest and run over by a stampede of wild buffalos (not literally). As we were about to leave after a doorstep study with a girl about 18, the adorable little 8 year old sister asked us to pray for their family. She thought because she had bad thoughts sometimes that maybe God would be angry with her. And she asked that we beg God not to let her parents fight anymore because it scared her, especially when her father hit her mother. She even knew that they fought over money.
I told her that Jehovah listens to little girls just as much as he listens to me and that she could pray to him whenever she was scared or felt that she was bad. I gave her the brochure about Your Family can be Happy and urged her to tell her parents how she felt and to give the brochure to them to read together. It's so easy to get emotionally attached to studies.
There are so many more experiences we could share but I risk having bored you to death already with the length of this update. So we will go. Adios amigos. Thanks for reading.
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