Day 5

The morning started with Gail giving our morning Devotional with James 3 about sharp tongues and the damage such a small part of our total body can do. Then the women and I raced to get loads of laundry done and hung out before we started our strenuous day . . . btw no clothes lines, but big bricks work well!.. Then we broke up into two teams – Team 1 was responsible for raking rocks, yes I said raking rocks, out of the driveway and against the wall of the Lydia house to allow for a smoother driveway and grass to be planted along the wall. Team 2 got to drive up the mountain and collect rocks. Here in Bolivia, because there is an abundance of natural rocks, they put them in the foundation and then pour cement around it (also saving on cement $). Jason learned that so far to date, this campus has been built using 1800 loads of rocks off the property - - - we did 2!! Both teams were EXHAUSTED needless to say by lunch. We had lunch with the students and then no rest for the missionaries, Team 1 went up the mountain with Team 2 and a few other folks. Alan was able to install a Pencil Sharpener from his sponsor, which was a struggle as tools are not abundant here at Palabra de Vida. At the same time, another group had the fun duty of assembling the tents for the mountains and inspecting them. FYI, they were not together, tents, poles, stakes, bags . . . all over, none with the right stuff and missing things everywhere. However, after much aggravation and ingenious thought, they were able to assemble 7 tents for our trip to the mountains. Then all the teams came together to pack the tents and load the bus. We had empanadas for dinner and back to the Lydia house for stretch and bless. As you can imagine most of our stretching was laborious!! A very long and strenuous day and I thought delivering packages was bad, but knowing our work is the foundation for a dorm to educate and train future missionaries made it worth the while. It is 9pm and we are heading to bed as we have to be loaded and en route at 4:45am for a 5 hour bus ride into the mountains to start our 3 day trip to a remote village.

(P.S. This is my second time coming here and I am still receiving many more blessings. I find the Bolivian people to be caring and giving people and enjoy so much spending time with them. . . I feel the 3rd trip coming ! Thank you so much to our sponsors for making this happen)

Much love to my family, miss them so,
Callie