Hello friends andf family!

We are still here in Cochabamba and LOVING our classes! Well most of them…this is the first time that we both have switched teachers every hour which we were a bit nervous about just because teachers can be a bit chatty with surface things rather than teach which equals a lot of potential wasted time. We have each teacher for an hour at a time but the change has been great for most of the teachers. There are 2 teachers who ROCK!!! The best teachers ever seriously (besides Joe of course!). And then the others are not so great…good people just not the best teachers and challengers. But we have the good ones for half the day usually so its been wonderful! It’s also a Christian school so that has been incredible to talk about faith, ministry, etc with our teachers. We are going to a Communion Service tomorrow at one of our teacher’s house where Joe is leading a prayer and then Saturday, pastor Joe is preaching…in espanol! They love Joe and the fact that he sounds like he’s lived here all of his life!

For the past couple of days we have been hanging out with Johnny and Jennifer Kilmartin. “Johnny K” was Joe’s Young Life leader in high school and he and Jenny are down here for 2 years teaching at an American school. The kids actually graduate with an American and Bolivian diploma. They are an AWESOME couple!!! And…they are living with a couple, who also teaches at the school, from….CHATTANOOGA!!! Small world! It’s been fun to hang out with like-minded people, speak some good ole English, and have a bit of community with them. We have the next week or so planned with hiking, going to markets, having cookouts, and relating to each other on what the Lord has taught all of us on our journeys to Latin America.

Last weekend, we took off to La Paz for one night and Copacabana for 2. We were warned of the altitiude of La Paz (elevation >12,000ish ft) and one of our fellow students puked the whole weekend because he had altitude sickness but we didn’t have much effect from it. We did have some whacked out dreams which we later found out was in response to the alitutude…that made us feel better! We shopped in the artesians market a bit Saturday morning in La Paz and ate a good lunch and then hopped on a bus to Copa. The trip there was beautiful! The Andes mountains were in the background the entirety and small mud house villages in the foreground. The indigenious women wear a different outfit than other places we have been (I will post pics) with a funny looking hat that sits straight on top of their head. In Copa, we had some great trout (although fresh, we definitely saw the tiny hatcheries where they were farmed) and took a trip to a few of the nearby islands. We took a ton of pics with the new camera (thanks mom!!!) and think we finally figured it out-it’s been really fun to act like a real photographer! Joe and I both got kinda obessed with the alpaca souvenirs and ended up buying alpaca wool sweaters for $8! They are AWESOME!!!
Anyways, that is our story for now! Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Hiati and for those of you who have worked among and befriended them. Please let us know if we can do anything besides pray for God’s glory to be shown through this catasrophy.
We love you!
The Kidds