Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
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
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
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Cocha, Cocha, Cochabamba
Well we arrived safe and sound last weekend after a long haul...4 countries, 2 days, and not a lot of food! We spent the night in the Lima airport which actually was quite nice. We slept till 8:30ish on the chairs in one of the gates. At one point, I heard the announcements for a plane boarding from the gate we were in and saw a bunch of people and then fell right back to sleep. I'm sure those people thought we were crazy Gringo's sleeping on the chairs in the airport. We arrived in Santa Cruz where the Masseys picked us up and took us to the mission base. They are AWESOME!!! They have 3 kids Ty, Sam, and Georgia who are great! We stayed at the base Friday night and Saturday they had organized a little welcome party for us with all the SAM (South America Missions) missionaries. The team is great and quite large! It was wonderful to meet them all but right after the party we packed our bags and took a 10 hour bus to Cochabamba for 3 weeks of language school. Joe's Young Life leader, Johnny Kilmartin and his wife Jennifer, live in Cochabamba teaching English in a school here and recommended a language school to us. We have been here in Cochabama for 5 days and it's great! The climate is PERFECT and we love our school! We are living with a lady named Carmen (Dona Carmen) who was a biochemist but now is retired. She is super nice and the house is pretty cozy. We quickly learned a hard custom of Bolivia and have had to adjust our schedules. Typically, Bolivians eat breakfast (with instant coffee) as we do, then eat a HUGE lunch around 2pm, and then only eat bread and drink tea for dinner. We have been a bit hungry at night but have found places to get light snacks before going home to eat bread and tea with our family! We visited a hosptial yesterday and both were astonished at how NICE and CLEAN it was! There were no stray dogs or cats anywhere...a little different than the hospital in Granada! We might be volunteering a few days a week there or another clinic while here in Cochabamba.
Johnny and Jennifer have been in the States for the Holidays so we have not seen them yet but they arrive here this weekend. We are pumped to hang out with them and see what their lives look like here in Cochabama. We are surrounded by gorgeous, gigantic mountains so hope to explore the many parks with the Kilmartins when they return. The city itself is a mile higher than Charlottesville and we have seen a few affects...we went running the first day here and after 5 minutes, Joe said he heard my heart beating is was working so hard! I was DYING!!! Day by day we have increased our minutes of running-we are up to 20 minutes!!! A big goal I know! We are headed to La Paz this weekend and a lot of people get altitude sickness pretty badly so we are hoping for no vomit! Anyways, we are alive and safe and will update you soon!
Love you and miss you all!
Julie and Joe
Johnny and Jennifer have been in the States for the Holidays so we have not seen them yet but they arrive here this weekend. We are pumped to hang out with them and see what their lives look like here in Cochabama. We are surrounded by gorgeous, gigantic mountains so hope to explore the many parks with the Kilmartins when they return. The city itself is a mile higher than Charlottesville and we have seen a few affects...we went running the first day here and after 5 minutes, Joe said he heard my heart beating is was working so hard! I was DYING!!! Day by day we have increased our minutes of running-we are up to 20 minutes!!! A big goal I know! We are headed to La Paz this weekend and a lot of people get altitude sickness pretty badly so we are hoping for no vomit! Anyways, we are alive and safe and will update you soon!
Love you and miss you all!
Julie and Joe
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Off again!
Well we are sitting at the airport in DC (we did get the right airport this time) waiting for our 24 hour journey over to Bolivia. We have had a wonderful time in Chattanooga, Birmingham, Broadway, and Charlottesville visiting friends and family. From night skiing in about 18 degrees one night, to watching Brandon and Nicole canoe down the river with 2 ft of snow on the ground, to Christmas parties, playing with neices and nephews, homemade food and Christmas treats, caroling with our traditionally pots and pans, to having a variety of clean clothes to choice from everyday, clean beds without bed bugs, it was awesome to be at home!It was honestly a bit hard coming from Nicaragua where the people did not know where their food was going to come from each day to hopping right into the middle of Christmas here in the States. At first I was repulsed but sad to say, I quickly turned back to the materialistic side of Christmas and was out shopping and buying gifts without thinking twice. I have to admit it scares me how quickly I forgot about what we saw down south, as far as materials, or lack there of, and jumped back into life in America at Christmas. All that to say, we are pumped to be able to go back down and serve and are really excited about being stationary for the entirity of the trip. Our home base will be Santa Cruz, Bolivia but the first 3 weeks we will travel to Cochabamba for language school where we'll live with a Bolivian family and volunteer in a clinic. The remainder of the time will be spent in Santa Cruz with the team from South America Missions. The Masseys are the family from Trinity that we are hooking up with. They have been so encouraging to Joe and I via email and we can't wait to get to know them and serve with them. Please pray for our long travels today and that we can easily transition back in life in Latin America...and for my Spanish skills! We love you and it was great to see you all!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Our Friend Juan
Hello everyone and blessings during this wonderful season to celebrate Jesus' birthday! As most of you know, Joe and I had the incredible opportunity to be in Central America for the past 4 months doing different types of mission/volunteer work. We spent the majority of our time in Granada, Nicaragua working with missionaries from our home church in Charlottesville. While there, we pioneered a hospital mission project. The hospital in Granada in a public, free hospital funded by the Japanese. Let's just say you get what you pay for here. There are usually a shortage of necessary medicine, doctors, etc but an excess of stray dogs and cats running in and out of patients rooms. Joe and I went 2 days a week to the hospital and visited, prayed, sang, etc with the patients who were waiting patiently for healing. They were a captive audience considering the boredom and waiting but through Jesus we developed some great relationships in the 2 months we were there. On of these patients, Juan, was there the first day we began at the hospital and was still there 2 months later when we left, just waiting for the correct antibiotics for his leg. His story is this...Since birth Juan was unable to walk. He had these huge bulbous bones spurs (for lack of a better term) that inhibited him from walking. He would try but only fell. So, thirteen years ago he had a surgery to remove the spurs. His left leg healed up fine, but his right never healed. He has been in and out of the hospital since then with this incredible festering infection. He learned to walk. He relies heavily on a cane. He just turned 28 last month.
Joe and I didn't know the severity of his infection until one of the last days we were in the hospital. A doctor came by to clean his wound (which is deep to the bone) and was talking about his antibiotic therapy. At that point I put on my pharmacist hat and realized the huge problem in what was going on. From day to day the hospital literally doesn't know what medications they will have in stock and thus give patients whatever they have...which equals increased resistance for infections and lack of healing. We had seen some miracles of healing before this to another patient that totally made me realize how much bigger God was than our American, researched, expensive medicine. When I heard how wrong (in American standards) Juan's care was, I thought to myself...well God is in control and is the ultimate healer no matter what medications he is or is not receiving. We went on and just prayed about the situation and later were discussing this with some friends of ours from California that have moved for 5 months to Granada and have totally served this community in so many ways. This family, because of a sickness Dione (the wife/mom) had while being in Granada know of a doctor that worked in the best hospital in Nicaragua which is about 45 minutes away. They had also raised some money to help give their neighbors Christmas presents and everyday needs such as beds, foods, etc but had some money leftover from all of they generous supporters. They offered to get in contact with the doctor they knew and see what he could do for Juan. Long story short, Troy (the husband/father) took Juan to the hospital on Friday and everyone was blown away by his leg. Here is what Troy said of the trip to the hospital on Friday
"Dr. Baurios, was absolutely fantastic. He was very caring and careful and thorough. Everyone who saw Juan’s wound was profoundly effected. I had to walk into another room because I was teary. Juan definitely has Osteomyelitis (an infection of the bone). They took an x-ray of the bone to measure the damage. They also took cultures of the five eruptions where the infection is coming through the skin (one honestly looks like an upside down volcano straight to the bone). They also took a blood draw to see if the infection has spread to his blood or anywhere else in his body. On Tuesday we will get all of the culture and blood results back. Today the x-rays showed that the bone has not been damaged by the infection which is fairly miraculous. Dr. Baurios is also going to show the films to an orthopedist to be thorough. So, hopefully Tuesday we will know the plan for treatment. It will most likely include being admitted to the hospital for at least two weeks of intensive antibiotic treatment. After the infection has cleared enough, they will surgically clean the infected area and remove old scar tissue, etc. "
Juan lives with his mom and dad and his little 9 year old daughter (the mom is not in the picture). He has the best attitude and knows there is a plan for him thru the Lord. He really wants to get back to work (which is physical work) to provide for his daughter and help his mom and dad out as well. For 13 years, Juan has not received appropriate care and has spent tremendous amounts of time in the hospital. We are hopeful that this time is different and he will be healed after proper treatment but most importantly, God's healing. You all have been so gracious to Joe and I to support us financially and prayerfully as we have been away but we are going to throw this out there now. It cost about $100/day for treatment at the hospital and Juan needs weeks-months of treatment. It's not cheap! Please join us in praying for Juan and if you feel led please make a donation in Juan's name to help him receive proper care. Our friends, Troy and Dione, have created a paypal account on their blog. Just click on the link below to go directly to the paypal link or if you have problems you can visit their blog at
www.thehickersons.com
Thank you so much for your time, heart, joy, etc. We are heading to Bolivia January 7th for another 3 months and would love for you to follow us at www.kiddsinlatinamerica.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas!!!
Julie and Joe Kidd
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=xsCUtw_SiCwoAfc2rEI6f86M3kymAP0HchDNtzcSi5NUfdJfrPPFp7WEbM4&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1ffc45dc241d84e953ae3a912d7415d1a97451b677930c8a71
Joe and I didn't know the severity of his infection until one of the last days we were in the hospital. A doctor came by to clean his wound (which is deep to the bone) and was talking about his antibiotic therapy. At that point I put on my pharmacist hat and realized the huge problem in what was going on. From day to day the hospital literally doesn't know what medications they will have in stock and thus give patients whatever they have...which equals increased resistance for infections and lack of healing. We had seen some miracles of healing before this to another patient that totally made me realize how much bigger God was than our American, researched, expensive medicine. When I heard how wrong (in American standards) Juan's care was, I thought to myself...well God is in control and is the ultimate healer no matter what medications he is or is not receiving. We went on and just prayed about the situation and later were discussing this with some friends of ours from California that have moved for 5 months to Granada and have totally served this community in so many ways. This family, because of a sickness Dione (the wife/mom) had while being in Granada know of a doctor that worked in the best hospital in Nicaragua which is about 45 minutes away. They had also raised some money to help give their neighbors Christmas presents and everyday needs such as beds, foods, etc but had some money leftover from all of they generous supporters. They offered to get in contact with the doctor they knew and see what he could do for Juan. Long story short, Troy (the husband/father) took Juan to the hospital on Friday and everyone was blown away by his leg. Here is what Troy said of the trip to the hospital on Friday
"Dr. Baurios, was absolutely fantastic. He was very caring and careful and thorough. Everyone who saw Juan’s wound was profoundly effected. I had to walk into another room because I was teary. Juan definitely has Osteomyelitis (an infection of the bone). They took an x-ray of the bone to measure the damage. They also took cultures of the five eruptions where the infection is coming through the skin (one honestly looks like an upside down volcano straight to the bone). They also took a blood draw to see if the infection has spread to his blood or anywhere else in his body. On Tuesday we will get all of the culture and blood results back. Today the x-rays showed that the bone has not been damaged by the infection which is fairly miraculous. Dr. Baurios is also going to show the films to an orthopedist to be thorough. So, hopefully Tuesday we will know the plan for treatment. It will most likely include being admitted to the hospital for at least two weeks of intensive antibiotic treatment. After the infection has cleared enough, they will surgically clean the infected area and remove old scar tissue, etc. "
Juan lives with his mom and dad and his little 9 year old daughter (the mom is not in the picture). He has the best attitude and knows there is a plan for him thru the Lord. He really wants to get back to work (which is physical work) to provide for his daughter and help his mom and dad out as well. For 13 years, Juan has not received appropriate care and has spent tremendous amounts of time in the hospital. We are hopeful that this time is different and he will be healed after proper treatment but most importantly, God's healing. You all have been so gracious to Joe and I to support us financially and prayerfully as we have been away but we are going to throw this out there now. It cost about $100/day for treatment at the hospital and Juan needs weeks-months of treatment. It's not cheap! Please join us in praying for Juan and if you feel led please make a donation in Juan's name to help him receive proper care. Our friends, Troy and Dione, have created a paypal account on their blog. Just click on the link below to go directly to the paypal link or if you have problems you can visit their blog at
www.thehickersons.com
Thank you so much for your time, heart, joy, etc. We are heading to Bolivia January 7th for another 3 months and would love for you to follow us at www.kiddsinlatinamerica.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas!!!
Julie and Joe Kidd
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=xsCUtw_SiCwoAfc2rEI6f86M3kymAP0HchDNtzcSi5NUfdJfrPPFp7WEbM4&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1ffc45dc241d84e953ae3a912d7415d1a97451b677930c8a71
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Home Sweet Home!
We arrived safely to DC last night where Joe's sweet parents were there to pick us up and take us to Broadway. We woke up today to snow covered woods which continued the entire day...such a treat and truly beautiful! It was great fun to build snowmen, sled, peg each other with snowballs with our family. The weather has been a bit shocking considering we lost around 40 degrees from our flight from Panama to DC yesterday...crazy! But we are excited to be home and spend time with our friends and family, have good home-cooked non beans and rice food, sleep in clean beds (Joe got attacked by bed bugs one of our last nights in Panama), take hot showers, have more than a 2 shirt option of what we will wear each day, and most importantly sing Christmas music. Thank you all for all of your support, prayers, thoughts, etc for us while we were in Central America and we will return to the blogging world in early January when we go back South for another adventure in South America. Happy Holidays and Happy Birthday Jesus!
Julie and Joe
Julie and Joe
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