Dia De Santa Cruz!

Dia De Santa Cruz is basically fourth of July for this City. Every city has their own celebration for their anniversary...this 24th of September was Santa Cruz' 200 year anniversary!

Needless to say the city gets pretty excited for this...they all wear Santa Cruz colors (Green and White)...and there are many many nights filled with ENDLESS fireworks. :/ Not always enjoyable especially for our very cowardly dog Dudley...yeah, Dudley's had a rough week.

Another highlight of this anniversary celebration is EXPO CRUZ!  This was SO fun for us because neither Andy or I had ever been to the Expo...Usually Andy has been everywhere and he just tollerates things on my behalf. But this time we both were experiencing something new. It was fascinating. We were able to go the second night it was open (Sept 18)...at about 7:30pm and didn't leave till about 10:30. How I would describe it is kinda like a Worlds fair...every country or even big business has its own booth/tent at the fair grounds and you just go and see what there is to see. We saw the new Samsung 3D televisions, the Argentinians new tourist plan, the award winning cattle of this country(MASSIVE COWS), the newest cars (I'm guessing Toyota...I forget...) and so much more. Probably the most ehem...memorable of the things we saw were Latin Americas most BEAUTIFUL women! I'm not kidding. Expo Cruz is famous for all the models they have there. Each business probably had at least 5 gorgeous girls advertising outside for them.  The models have nothing to do with the product necessarily...they just are there to attract customers...  I was really in shock at first that that little of clothing could be ALLOWED out in public...but hey, this sure isn't america. :)   Three hours was definitely long enough for me to decide that I probably wouldn't want Andy to ever come back. =) Or even me for that matter...too many pretty girls.  BUT, Expo Cruz was definitely a memorable experience! We ate some great food and had some great times with friends!!

Wow...you know its big when ANDY is dwarfed by it. :)

Andy was excited to see all the new toys with wheels

Andy and I shared the BIGGEST steak I've ever seen!!!

The Browns and us... :)

After... I think we did pretty good. Ate the all the yucca, most of the steak...and the potato salad. YUM

Other news is that Spring has officially arrived bringing its 95 degree temperatures and scorching sun...oh my goodness I can't even imagine what summer will be like. Right now we are praying for rain...all our plants are dying. Rainy season begins mid October. :) NOT TOO MUCH LONGER!

Thats about it I guess...things are good. We go to take the finance office our books for the month tomorrow! I can't believe we are nearing our third month in this country. I still feel like there is much adjusting to do. Andy's Mom and Dad come back home this weekend! We are so anxious to see them!

Viva SANTA CRUZ!!!

Our first get away!

Here at the mission home, our main job is to BE HERE! Answering phones and welcoming guests involves our presence obviously...so we don't get much if any time during the week to just pick up and leave. Well, needless to say, cabin fever does set in sometimes and we were so thankful for a slow weekend so that we could take our first real trip away from Santa Cruz and the Guest Home! We went with two veteran missionaries along with a single lady from Canada who was visiting to see if Bolivia is the place for her. (I hope she comes here!!) We went to visit an Ayore tribe that is about an hour by car from Santa Cruz. After growing up in the Philippines and having to fly into tribal locations because there were no roads, I sort of laughed at the idea of DRIVING to a tribe that was only about an hour away!!!

We started the drive and I realized very soon that driving here is move like...maneuvering. Haha I was SO THANKFUL for a driver who knew what he was doing. We definitely had to be ready for anything. We drove on pavement for awhile, but then on a dirt road the rest of the way. Andy drank his terere (Paraguayan drink kind of like a cold tea) and I was shocked that it didn't fly out the window...the road was mostly pot holes!!

Andy drinkin his terere.

We made a quick stop to get cheese and yucca flour to make Cunape. Cunape is the main cheese bread here in Bolivia...made from Yucca flour(what we use to make tapioca), cheese (very "real" cheese made by the Mennonites in the area), milk, salt, a little sugar, eggs, and pig fat. (I'm sure I forgot some ingredients...) Anyway, so we get the the village, meet the missionary family, and then they begin teaching me and Julie how to make Cunape! It was FASCINATING to watch them. My only real contribution was grating the cheese...I definitely want to try this on my own sometime. SO YUMMY! :)

Kids welcoming us to the tribe! =) Or maybe just excited to jump on the truck...

Learning how to make Cunape

Our lovely teachers!

We had a quick tour of the village...and man, I wasn't laughing at calling this a tribe anymore. The people there live in such pagan beliefs...even with being so close to a major city. A couple of the beliefs really got to me. The members of the tribe make their houses out of clay and wood...very flimsy...and this is because if a member of that household dies, they MUST tear down that house and build another one to live in. Also, the young women of the tribe are taught to "gain experience" before marriage by exercising prostitution in the nearby towns. It was so very sad to me to see normal looking people, living in such a corrupted way. The missionary in that village said that it was a struggle for him to know how to lead the people in some areas. He told us of some young ladies who came to him with money as an offering to the church...but he KNEW that money had come to them by prostitution! ITs just such a sad situation...such a harsh people group. They only have about fifteen members of the church. I know Church is not measured in numbers, but I couldn't help but be saddened by all the people I saw who were still living without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So often you hear the stories of missionaries who go to the tribe and within months have a church with hundreds of members and they all get saved and start growing and put off all their sinful beliefs. And here we have a tribe thats had missionaries in it for years and years and yet has only fifteen tribal members and still has such awful sin amongst them! I was heartbroken and really challenged not to "judge" a tribe by its accessibility. I can't believe I did that. Just because those people aren't in the middle of the Bolivian Jungle doesn't mean they aren't lost.

The red building is the church. In the Background is the missionaries house.

houses...

 

You can be the poorest of the poor...but you'll still have a basketball court! :)

We so enjoyed our day away and are proud to be a part of the work that goes on here in Bolivia. I think it made our job a little easier...seeing a little bit of what the "real" missionary deals with...I see why they would need a break from it and even room to get things done...and that's exactly the purpose of the mission home here! To provide a sort of haven for the ones out in the tribe that need a break, a cheap travel in-between, or even get some dreaded paper work done. :) This trip really energized us with our task at hand!