News from the Hughes

So, I finally have a few quiet and free moments and wanted to let everyone know we’re here.  It starts off a bit bleak, but just keep reading, it does get better.  DOROTHY, YOU’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE!

The First 24 Hours – We arrived in Tarija on October 18^th at around 5:00 pm and what should only be a 13 hour trip was more like 2 days for us (Lesson Learned -- the cheaper your flight, the more you wait and wait and wait at airports).  We arrive in Tarija tired and a little worse for wear.  There is a lot of beautiful landscape in Bolivia and as we fly to our new home in Tarija, I can see lush green mountains that must be the rain forest.  I’ve never seen such beautiful mountains, and I hope someday I get to see this beauty up close.  We arrive at Tarija’s small airport and our plane is the only one that arrives. I think they must only have 1 flight arrival per day.  Then we see our friend waving at us in the distance, mountains on the horizon and flowered trees, and I think to myself, “I’M GOING TO LOVE IT HERE.”   

Our friend has come to the airport with two Bolivian brothers to pick us up. The Bolivian friends are wonderful (both the Need Greaters and native Bolivians).  We have a lot of luggage and it takes 2 cars to get all of us and our luggage to our new apartment.  As we drive to our new home, the scenery begins to change.  We start to see less tropical flora and fauna, and instead there are run-down buildings, stray dogs, and things begin to feel very strange and foreign. Tarija is a small city, but unlike U.S. neighborhoods with manicured lawns as far as the eye can see, you have a nice home and then right next door will be a run-down home with piles of rubble everywhere. A brother and his wife who are from New Zealand have gotten us our apartment, which is in a safe part of town.  We live above a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses (our landlords).   Our apartment is huge, and has a lot of nice comforts including a modern fridge, nice stove, and washing machine.  We even have a microwave!

I’ve been told by other Need Greaters that no matter how much you plan and prepare – nothing prepares you for the reality of actually living in a new country.  THAT IS SOOOOOO TRUE!  Everything in Tarija feels strange -- the language, the people, the food, even the smells.  Our first night we go out to dinner with some friends and the 2 brothers that picked us up at the airport. In hindsight we probably would have fared better just having a nice, quiet meal at home.  As we drive to the restaurant there is some celebration going on and it seems as if everyone in Tarija has crammed themselves into the central Plaza.  There are a lot of cars, crazy drivers, noise, and everything is hectic and strange and I think to myself, “I HATE IT HERE. WHAT HAVE I DONE? I DON’T BELONG HERE. WHY DID I THINK I COULD DO THIS?”  

The cars don’t stop for people and so if you cross the road, you had better make sure you can get across in time because the car won’t stop.  Our dear brothers that valiantly volunteered to take us around are no different.  It feels as if any minute he’s going to hit somebody crossing the road and by the time we reach the restaurant we are all stressed out.  I tell myself not to panic – I can come home at any time, and there is no doubt in my mind that we’ll be going home with Jasmine and Jaina in 3 months. The dinner was nice and calm and we get back to the apartment feeling more at ease with our situation.

It’s been unusually hot in Tarija and so we stop to pick up two fans to keep things cool – you know the kind you buy in a box at Walmart and open it up and it’s pretty easy to assemble.  Except the fans you buy in a box in Bolivia include 50 different pieces, needing to be assembled by some skilled factory worker – no instructions, and we’re expected to know how to put them together. So, the fans don’t get put together, we open up the windows and let the nice breeze from the mountains blow through our place.

STILL THE FIRST 24 HOURS…..  So, we wake up the next day and all of us are covered in a lot of mosquito bites.  I mean just on one arm we each have about 15 bites.  We later learn that the unusually hot weather has also brought a wave of mosquitos that have bitten the mess out of us. As we begin to start our day our little water heater begins to have flames coming out of it inside the apartment. Aubri walks over to shut it off when it does this steam explosion.  I’m in a panic because all I think is that Aubri has now been severely burned. Fortunately, the water was cold but now this thing is leaking water all over the kitchen.  Aubri runs downstairs and the dear brother rushes upstairs to help us.  He has to run and get some needed parts and so we take turns putting pots under the leak and dumping it into the kitchen sink while he runs and get the parts needed.  The water heater gets fixed, and the 5 of us survived. But we all start looking at each other, feeling over-whelmed and stressed out, and wanting to be back home.

The dear sister who met us at the airport comes over to the apartment to take us to the local market where we can buy food because there is no food in our apartment. As I walk around the various stalls of fruits, vegetables, meat, and other household items like toilet paper, I start to feel like this pampered American princess that has left a cushy life in the states to come to this place where everything is hard and feels different. I’m mad at myself because I think that unlike Abraham and Sarah who left the comforts of Ur to do Jehovah’s will, I’m a Lot.  I want to live in a nice city where things are easier and it irritates me that I feel like this.

All shopping in Bolivia is done at individual shops.  You need pillows and towels– go to the linen shop. You need stuff for the kitchen like pots and baking dishes – go to that shop.  You need meat – go to that shop and so forth and so on. And not all the shops are by each other.  So for someone like us that need a lot of things to set-up a new household, you can spend days visiting all the different areas of town and different shops to get what you need. AND YET JUST A FEW DAYS AGO I DROVE 5 MINUTES TO THE LOCAL WALMART FOR EVERYTHING. Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate these pics.

We’ve been in Tarija less than 24 hours and instead of feeling excited and wanting to embrace all that comes, the five of us are feeling over-whelmed and homesick.  It’s true that Aubri has lived in Bolivia before, but she lived in a quiet and calm town in the mountains -- and that was 2 years ago.  She’s gotten use again to the U.S. way of life.  We have Sunday meeting tonight at 6:30 and while we want to just stay home and relax and unwind, we get dressed and go to meeting.  Most people in Tarija walk everywhere.  So, to walk 15 minutes to get to meeting isn’t a big deal, but as we get ready to leave the house it begins to pour down rain.  We do live in the sub-tropics so the rain won’t last too long, but for now, taxis must be found to get to meeting, which isn’t hard because of where our apartment is located. The couple from New Zealand have really looked out for us.  They’ve made sure we have a comfortable place to live in nice part of town with easy access to all we need.

So, we get to meeting and the kingdom hall is pretty (of course), and as we sit through a meeting where no one (except Aubri) understands what’s going on, I’m suddenly struck by how wonderful it is to be in Jehovah’s house.  No matter the language barrier or culture change, we’re all Jehovah’s people and I suddenly feel very OK.  These dear brothers and sisters don’t feel foreign at all.  They only feel like Jehovah’s people and my friends. After meeting the friends surround us with hugs and kisses and we even get invited to a party.  Most speak no English at all, yet they find a way to let us know they’re excited we’re here and suddenly Tarija doesn’t seem so bad. An American couple that have been living in Bolivia for a year offer to walk us home, even though it is out of their way. The girls like them a lot and we start very quickly to now make friends. 

Day #2 – The girls (who are quickly becoming amazing Need Greaters) figured out a way to put the complicated fans together, and as I write this the girls are standing on chairs on top of a bed, hanging mosquito nets. They even bought this hand-held bug zapper that you wave around and it kills mosquitos. 

A sister shows up this morning with flowers to welcome us.  She is American, and 4 years ago their family including her husband, two sons and her parents moved to Bolivia.  They are actually in the sign group but her son is helping me to get internet.  We find out that she and her husband use to be Missionaries in Bolivia before having children and wanted their children to have this experience.  You meet people like this all the time in Tarija, and in just the 2 days we’ve been here, we’ve met some really nice and wonderful friends. For example, the couple that found us or apartment used to be in the Circuit work in New Zealand.  Everyone seems to understand of all the adjustments we’re making, and they encourage us to just hang in there 6 months – in 6 months things won’t feel so hard.

Today we sign our lease for the apartment, and I think, “NOW IS MY CHANCE TO BACK OUT, DON’T SIGN IT, JUST EXPLAIN YOU’RE ONLY STAYING FOR 3 MONTHS.”  Me and the girls look at each other and we all agree to sign a one-year lease.  The family that owns our apartment invites us to get pizza, and while I decline, the girls go and have a wonderful time.  Here is Jaina and Aubri with their new friend Eva that lives downstairs.  Eva is a Regular Pioneer and has invited the girls to do all sorts of things with her including being part of a Quick Build in November.

Day #3 – Jasmine and Jaina go out in service (their first time) while me and the girls head off to the Central Plaza to do more stuff for our residency.   The girls go back to the market (you have to go almost every 2 days to get food), and later that day I have a good cry.  It all starts to sink in that we’ve moved to a new country, and I’m a bit nervous that it was the right thing to do.  Then, the friends from downstairs come up and start measuring our windows.  They are going to install screens on them so that we’re protected from the mosquitoes. 

Their new friend Eva invites Jaina and Priscilla to go out in service on some Bible Studies the next day.  Me and Aubri have to work and Jasmine is going to just take a much needed day to relax.  The sister also invites us to go to the mountains this Saturday with their congregation to work a 12-hour day in the ministry.  The girls also get invited to go out with another congregation on Sunday that also go to the mountains.  They are trying to form a new congregation and so a group of about 30 go every Sunday and preach in another part of the mountains. 

Mountains surround Tarija and every congregation is assigned a portion of their mountain (or rural) territory to cover.  It’s also the area where you find the grape vineyards and wineries.  The problem is that it’s not as safe for us 5 women to live in that area, it’s harder to find places to live, and you end up being around a lot of other Gringos versus your Bolivian brothers and sisters.  Everyone patiently explains that we’re in a really nice situation because we have a comfortable place to live and for those times when we want to preach in the mountains, we can. So what if we have to constantly doge dog poop on the sidewalks.

Day #4 – Jaina and Priscilla have for field service, when about an hour later we see Priscilla is home with 2 sisters and she is white as a sheet.  She has fainted in field service.  Priscilla didn’t eat breakfast + the much higher altitude = dizziness and fainting. Priscilla’s blood sugar dropped.  So, we are making her take it easy today. 

Our First Week is Over - As I finish up this update we’ve been in Bolivia 1 week, and despite the challenges and the strangeness, I think I’m really going to like it here. Can I stay 2 years – the verdict is still out.  But, I’m excited about at least mentally committing to one year and I’m happy that we made the decision to come.  It’s not what I expected, I wouldn’t call it a tropical paradise, but there is a lot of natural beauty in Bolivia and it has its own charm. But the most amazing part of this whole thing has been meeting the friends.  They are so wonderful and loving and encouraging and they’ve made us feel that even though we’ve had to say good-bye to our friends and family in the U.S., we now have new friends and family that love and care about us and are there for us when we need help.

I THINK I’M GOING TO LIKE IT HERE!