Update on Status

Hello All-

We got up around 6 am this morning to catch our 9:35 AM flight. Everything went well checking out of the hotel, dropping off the rental van, checking in, etc. However, at 9 AM, Delta discreetly changed the status of our flight from "On Time for 9:35" to "Delayed to 1:00 PM." Luckily, we got in line right away at the gate. Three hours later, we had our new flights for tomorrow, Monday.

Apparently, the door of the plane broke. The pilot told me that on the way to Miami from Atlanta, the latch that keeps the door closed (and the plane pressurized) started to open on its own. Sounds serious!

Because Miami is not a hub for Delta, they do not have any mechanics on site. The American Airlines mechanics attempted to fix the problem. The pilot believed they had fixed it, but the mechanics in Atlanta would not allow the plane to fly until they looked at it, which meant the flight still had not taken off the last I checked at 5:09 PM!

Better safe than sorry. Everything to the northeast was booked solid today being the end of April vacation for Mass. We tried everything- other airlines, other routes, other destinations, but nothing worked.

Actually, the Dore's got picked to take a different flight to Atlanta, but decided to stay with the group to the end. In the end, it means they will not get back to Boston until 8:30 PM tomorrow night. The rest of us will be back in Boston tomorrow (Monday) at 2:40 PM.

Sorry for the hassle! We'll see you all soon!

Adam

On our way...

We're on our way! We're in Miami and will return home tomorrow (Sunday). Thanks to all for prayers. We really appreciate it. There will be another big update in a few days!

April 23, 2008

Last Update for a Few Days

I am working on posting an update from yesterday (Wednesday). It will most likely be our last update for a few days. Today, Thursday, we are going to visit a children's hospital and a garbage dump village. Tomorrow, we have a decent amount of work to do and then we are heading directly to the airport, so we probably will not have a chance to do any updates. Thanks to all who have been watching this blog and leaving comments. Every day, I read the comments on the blog to the group, and it is a big source of encouragement. It's really helpful knowing people are praying for us and supporting us. Thanks! We'll see you in a few days!

April 22, 2008

April 21st, 2008 Recap

April 20th, 2008 Recap

From Marie and Sue

Today we visited our first Orphanage (the second orphanage in southern Cochabamba, called Villa Israel). Who could have been prepared. The children greeted us with hugs and kisses. First Marie and myself (Sue C) brought the children to the park next to the school. There we played baseball with the 4 children who went to school in the afternoon. I can not express how monumental the experience was. They LOVED our attention and we were attentive to them. They would run from afar into our arms. Later we sat and read them a book about Noahs Ark. Several other children from around gathered too to listen. We then put out a large piece of paper and we drew Noah´s Ark and all the animals. I would draw a picture of an elephant on a scratch paper then they would draw it on the ark. They are very creative and their artwork was beautiful. We headed back for lunch and the kids eat their lunch and got ready for school. Then the other 4 children came back from school and were taken to the park with the other team. We then painting the childrens rooms inside the orphanage. Later we had a great water fight with all the children and the adults. During the course of the day a little neighbor girl came over, Laura, and she lives with her grandfather. Her father died last year in a car accident. She worked hard along side of me for a long time with frequent heart felt hugs inbetween. She had been an inspiration to the Timmers and comes to the house everyday, even a far back as the first day of ground breaking of the home. She is full of love and appreciation of the love and acceptance that she has received. Mike Timmer always gives her food. We gave her a jump rope as we were leaving. Saying good bye was almost unbearable. We prayed a blessing over the house mother then after many tears we bid farewell to the precious children. Laura chased after our landrover jumproping all the way. We waved until we could no longer see her.
Blessings to All, Sue C.

When the Timmers gave their testimony yesterday my heart just went out to the whole family. The Timmers believe God and have so much faith that this scripture describes them: Matthew 17:20 which states ¨Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ´move from here to there, ´ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you.¨ The Timmers are waiting for finalization of their paperwork for little Gracie (a blessing from heaven). May God grant them a blessed assurance that she is finally all theirs. Based on todays events seeing these children through God´s eyes has truly shown me that God has a special blessing for the poor. This scripture has been on my heart since being here, Matthew 19:23-24 ¨Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God¨ May you keep us in your prayers and the children of Bolivia. Blessings, Marie C.

Pictures from Day 2 and 3

We Are Here!

We made it! Sorry, we did not have Internet access until right now- Sunday morning at 9:30. Just called into the Church service. A couple of interesting observations so far:

1- Dogs everywhere. We have seen probably two dozen dogs so far roaming the streets. They're all wild dogs that scrounge the area for food. They seem to be nice- a few have come up and sniffed me, and then run away. I certainly am not inviting them over!

2- People here drive like Downtown Boston! Pedestrians are on their own!

3- The weather is beautiful. It's about 65 right now, not humid at all. We're up pretty high elevation wise, but it doesn't seem to be affecting any of us negatively.

We'll be back later- we're not going to have too many opportunities to blog while we're here, so don't be alarmed- we'll do our best!

In Miami

Pictures from Day 1

Lunch

Flight from Boston to Baltimore

We're Off!

As of 8:52 AM, we are off on our way to the airport!

We met around 8:15 at the church, weighed our bags, had a group picture, prayed as a group, and left.

Marie's husband and AJ's wife volunteered to drive us to the airport- thanks! We are flying from Logan through Baltimore on to Miami. We are staying in a hotel tonight in Miami before heading to Bolivia in the morning. More updates to come... Leave a comment to let us know who's reading our blog!

Pictures of Cochabamba

Home

12 hours and 34 minutes after I left, and 514.3 miles later, I'm home with 8 approved visas!

We Have the Visas

After about an hour of waiting, they gave me the visas! Now off to the Statue of Liberty!

Waiting for our visas...

They have our money, our passports, and most of our info... Now, I'm waiting... Waiting... Waiting... They said it will be another 30 minutes...

At the Consulate

We're here. We parked and rode the subway into mid-town and walked to the Consulate. The consulate is a small office in a large office building with a lot of other Consulates for other countries. Everyone speaks Spanish here, so we got enough English and Spanish out between us to say "I want visas, here is my stuff." They took it all in folders, and now I'm going to the bank to pay for the visas. They don't take the cash here- I'll be back...

In NYC. 0952 hrs. 247.9 Miles.

0725 hrs 108.9 Miles Entering CT

On the highway 0628 hrs 32.9

0609 hrs 24.9 Miles Left Work

Just Left

0522 hrs. 0.0 Miles. Set out from our house with Danny on our way to NYC.