Hola

...and that´s the beginning of my limited Espaniol. lol. This is Kristen coming to you...finally again to update you all on how we´ve been doing. There´s just so much, but I´ll try to fill you in as best I can.
We are all healthy! Praise the Lord for that! There is nothing worse than puking, pooing and sleeping all day to make for a long one...but as of right now we feel right back to normal. We are heading to La Paz tomorrow which is a few thousand feet higher than we are now, so we are praying that we won´t get altitude sickness in the next few days.
We´ve been at the Baptist school every morning helping with classes any way we can. Ryan´s in love with the kindergarten kids, Phil´s an awesome English teacher, and the rest of us go where we´re needed....or pulled and prodded to go by the children:) We spent yesterday afternoon painting the principal´s office which was an absolute blast! and very encouraging for the principal to have an office that´s now been painted within the last 50 years...
The afternoons are filled however and wherever we can find a place to work. We´ve been to Jire a couple times and just hung out with the kids. It´s a ministry that gives shoeshiner kids and kids that spend more time working than doing school a place to go after school and get help with homework. There are ESL classes at the church Ivan goes to that we sat in and helped one night. The guys went and sang at the six hour praise night that night I was in bed sleeping my grossness away. Saturday we got to go wash babies in the center park. SO cool!!! This missionary couple comes every saturday and sets up a tent with five or so little plastic tubs in it to wash kids in. All the mothers line up with the kids outside and one my one they are taken inside the tent, washed and given new clean clothes and then get milk and bread. It was one of the most incredible things I´ve ever seen done!!!
Amoung our ministry opportunities, Ivan has been introducing us to different aspects of culture by taking us different places. We went and saw the Christo (a massive statue of Jesus that looks out over the city of Cochabamba), he took us to the market and gave us some funky fruit that had the hugest seeds in it EVER..but it tasted good..and if you are ever sick, rumour has it to drink ´coka tea´. That would be tea make out of the leaves from coke plants. Sounds a bit sketchy, but it actually is the natural cure for pretty much everything around here!
I realize this is pretty condensed and not really that detailed, but I hope it gives a bit of an update for you!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouraging comments...especially the ones from when we were sick...they were super cute :) Please keep us in your prayers as we head out to La Paz tomorrow till Saturday and as we continue to be seeking and learning new things. There are times it all seems so overwhelming, but we are continually reminded that even though we´re halfway across the world...or is it the whole way??? I don´t know...it´s too late to be thinking....anyway, even though we´re so far from home, God remains the same. He is working just as powerfully here as there and has been holding us just as close as ever.
Love you all in Christ,
Kristen