News from the Hughes

Has It Been One Year Already?

I can’t believe that October 18^th marked our one-year anniversary here in Bolivia.  WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT I COULD DO IT?

So much has happened the last 12 months, and time has really flown by.  This last year has taught me a lot about myself, and I must admit that coming to Bolivia helped me find an inner-strength I thought had been lost. It also helped to heal some deep emotional hurts.  This last year I've watched Jehovah’s care of our family, including the friends he's put into our path here; and saw him take our family situation and turn it around.  Life feels positive again, full of promise and wonderful things to come.  And it reminded me how Jehovah gives you courage and strength to handle even the most terrible of situations (you know what I'm talking about).  But what was really nice to learn was that not only did he help me to have courage, but he then put us in a situation to help my family have joy and move on with our lives.

AND MOVE ON WE HAVE -- But, I digress… HAS IT REALLY BEEN 1 YEAR?

This past year I have come to like Bolivia including its natural beauty, the love of the brothers & sisters, and the quiet and tranquil life here.  I see myself staying here for at least one more year.  But long-term, I’m just not sure yet.  There are still many challenges for me with living in Bolivia (including the difficulty of learning Spanish and my health), but I want to give it another year (at least). So just to recap our year in South America….

We moved into a house in Tomatitas.  The rain has finally started and we have peach trees flowering with buds in the front yard. All sorts of flowers are springing to life, the trees are green and lush, and I really enjoy my garden (who would have thought I’d become one of those garden-loving ladies -- I always hated gardening).

We joined the group in San Lorenzo...  

AND.... Just 2 weeks ago we became an independent group which means we now have both of our meetings in San Lorenzo and no longer meet with the Tomatitas congregation.  The San Lorenzo group had been having our own Sunday meetings, but as you can see we had out-grown this space and needed more room.  Half the group had to sit ouside and peer into the meeting.

So, the brothers found us a larger place to meet for both the meetings that's really nice. We still unexpectedly lose water sometimes, which makes the bathroom situation very interesting. But overall, we're very happy with our new meeting place.  It’s been really exciting to be part of a group that hopefully someday will be its own congregation and to watch the group grow and evolve.   

We saved/adopted two Bolivian puppies who went from barely surviving to becoming two very healthy and mischievous dogs.

 The girls got to visit their friends in Indy for 2 months …

We’ve met so many wonderful brothers & sisters in Bolivia, and I started learning to read, write and speak a new language.

WHEW!

As you can tell it’s been getting harder and harder for me to find the time I would like to update the Blog.  I really do enjoy working on it, but time just seems to be in short supply these days.  But, I’m really determined to try and do an update at least every 2 months. So, here’s what we’ve been up to the last few weeks. …

Some Visitors from the States --Jeremy, Rebecca & Rachel….

During the month of October we had the visit of not 1 not 2, but 3 wonderful visitors.  It was really nice having them all here at the same time because Jeremy was actually the son of some friends of some friends and Rebecca & Rachel we knew from Dayton.  They all came to Bolivia for 1-month.  What was really cool is that all 3 of them speak fluent Spanish.

The kids quickly adjust to preaching in the mountains of Bolivia…. 

BUT.... WALKING SO MUCH IN SUCH A HIGH ALTITUDE DEFINITELY TAKE IT'S TOLL....

The girls were only here for 1 month but during that time the group in San Lorenzo got really attached to them… Everyone hopes they come back again! 

Saying Good-bye to Friends…

During the month of October we had to say good-bye to Amado & Maria, a couple from PA that have been in Bolivia for a year.  Amado was our Field Service Overseer and then later the congregation Coordinator.  But, Maria has had a lot of health issues since coming to Bolivia and so they decided after serving here for a year that it was time to head back home.  But in the year they were here they gave a lot of themselves to the congregation, and the friends here were really sad to see them leave.

But, in true Bolivian fashion they made sure they got a send-off full of love and well wishes.  The Tomatitas Congregation/San Lorenzo group threw one big Fiesta to say GOOD BYE – including good food and some really fun entertainment.  We had the party on our patio and it was nice because the friends did all the work in getting our house set-up for such a large event (120 people came). My kids, along with Jeremy, Rachel, Rebecca and two Bolivian sisters from San Lorenzo put on a traditional dance as part of the entertainment.

But there were other really nice Bolivian traditional dances...

I don't know if you can tell from the video, but ths dance was realy cool!

And this dance by Frabby and Javier was really somthing...

There was even a dance where everyone joined in....

And of course what event would be complete without at least one Swing Dance?

Attending the English Regional Convention  in Santa Cruz….

I don’t know how many of you remember my blog from last October, and my description of the first English-speaking convention in Bolivia.  We had only been in the country for two weeks, and were feeling a bit like a fish out of water and then we met up with Connor in Cochabamba for the convention.  For me, it took what was an over-whelming change and made it wonderful.  This year’s convention did not disappoint!

The Bolivian Bethel hosted this second English-speaking convention for Need Greaters, which was held in the city of Santa Cruz.  I’ve described this city before (it reminds me of Miami).  For us it feels a bit surreal.  Santa Cruz has shopping malls, large grocery stores similar to Wal-mart, and all the other comforts of western living.  It’s a wonderful place to visit for a vacation and to buy little nicessities you can’t get elsewhere.  They even have a TGI Friday’s and Hard Rock Café. BUT ENOUGH OF THAT, WE CAME FOR THE CONVENTION…

As I mentioned above, the Bolivia Bethel branch hosted this year’s English convention (the 2^nd one in Bolivia), and it was so wonderful.  Getting spiritual food in Spanish is different than the spiritual food you get in English. To sit and have 3 days of spiritual encouragement in English was a real treat! The convention has the feel of a small International Convention because we had 32 countries in attendance.  The brothers giving the talks came from all over the world, and there is a relaxed and fun atmosphere that just rejuvenates you.  The friends all act like we’ve known each other for years and years.

I got to meet friends I hadn’t seen since the last convention and met some amazing new friends.  This night a group of us decide to go to TGI Friday’s for dinner.  The group included friends from Australia, England, Bolivia, and the U.S.  But, that’s pretty normal in Bolivia.  

I had attended the convention in Spanish and knew about the videos and releases, but to now get that same information in English – well, I got teary more than a few times. I left the convention feeling reassured regarding my decision to come to Bolivia and being re-energized for the year to come.

SMILING IN THE FACE OF TRAGEDY….

I wanted to tell you this story of the sister on the right (in the plum dress).  At our last English convention her family had a demonstration including herself, her husband, and two children.  On their way home from the convention, they had a terrible car crash and her whole family died including a good friend of Aubri’s that was travelling with their family.  While driving home from Cochabamba to their home in La Paz, they were driving at night and the road was under construction, and the bridge was out.  But, there were no signs to tell them and so they drove off a cliff. It was sad and tragic. 

We later heard that there were rumors that people in the mountains had deliberately taken down the warning signs that the bridge was out for the very purpose of making people crash so they could rob them. While she still feels the heartache of her loss, she didn’t let it stop her.  Each day she misses her husband and children but she moved to Santa Cruz, joined the English group there, and look at her beautiful smile.  She knows my son really well and when he introduced us, she gave me a big hug. There is nothing like hearing another person’s loss to put your own challenges into perspective.  I’ve invited her to come and visit us in Tarija and I hope she does…

So, that's all the news for now.  Oh wait, did I mention that Connor and I are leaving for Barcelona, Spain on December 1st?  But you'll have to read the next blog for the rest of that story...

Love Tracy

News from the Hughes

How's The Weather? 

So, as I’m sitting here I can’t help but imagine how beautiful it is right now in Indiana – the trees all changing colors into beautiful hues of red and orange; the weather starting to get  crisp and cold, knowing that winter is right around the corner. I have to admit, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for an Indiana Fall.

For us, it’s just the opposite -- we’re now in spring, which in Tarija means it's gotten HOT very fast. We went from having 3 months of cold weather to over-night it's just HOT! It still cools down at night, but during the day you can definitely tell we're going into our Summer. We’ve not had rain since last April, and I’m constantly amazed at how growing things don’t just shrivel up and die, but seem to have adapted to the pattern of life here. They go into some sort of hibernation where they don’t need much water. Then, starting in October things change…..

We start to have these torrential downpours of rain that last anywhere from one to several hours.  The streams and rivers fill back up, and things get green again.  Tarija turns into flowering trees, green mountains, and it becomes very beautiful.  Until then, I’m just counting down the days for rain!  

A Visit to El Valle…

Connor’s been busy traveling the last few weeks giving Public Talks, and one of the cool places we visited was the valley. The area has a lot of grape vineyards, and the group there works hard. Even though they have about 25 Publishers, their meeting attendance averages 70 people with all the visitors and Bible Studies that come.  After the meeting we were invited for lunch at the home of sisters from New Zealand.  It was a really nice day.  

Most of the groups (including ours) don’t have a Kingdom Hall.  We have to find a decent place to rent, put up signs, and that’s where we have meetings.  Below is a picture of the meeting place for El Valle.

A Trip to La Paz….

So, I recently had a cancer scare a few weeks ago, which required a trip to La Paz to see my cancer specialist.  YUCK!  I hate dealing with this stuff. I always feel like I’m this ticking time bomb that at any moment will just explode! I really like my doctor here and he seems to really understand the type of cancer I had, and what to do to make sure it hasn’t come back.  Within moments of talking to him, he made an appointment to see me, and 2 days later Connor and I were on a plane to La Paz so he could run tests.  Happy to say things look good.  It was just a bad infection (hey, I’ll take an infection any day to cancer).  Anyway, come to find out I was just really sick and so after getting on some heavy-duty Bolivian meds, I was right as rain. 

It turned out to be a really nice trip. I’ve mentioned before how the city of La Paz is built within a bowl surrounded by the Andes mountains.  The neighborhoods were just built up the sides of the tall mountains.  You can take one of these gondolins and ride from the bottom of the city all the way to the top in El Alto (a difference in altitude of a few thousand feed).  

But an unexpected treat was that we got to attend the meeting in English.  La Paz now has an English-speaking group, and since their speaker had to cancel, Connor was asked to give the Public Talk. For me, anytime I can get some spiritual food in English – it’s a treat! I got to meet some amazing brothers and sisters in the group, including a Special Pioneer couple. After the meeting a group of us went out to eat and just had a really nice time together. And who of all people did we happen to run into? AUSTIN & MICHELLE!

They went to the Airport congregation in Indianapolis for a few years.  They currently are serving in the Yungas where Aubri and Connor use to live, and are doing really wonderful things there. They also went to eat with us, and after dinner we all just hung out, talked, laughed, and enjoyed a little taste of home.  I want to tell you a bit about them because their story is pretty amazing.  About a year ago (while Connor was still in Irupana), Michelle was hit by a drunk driver and was seriously injured.  They were out preaching and had stopped at this store when a drunk man plowed his car into the store.  The car narrowly missed Connor, who was able to jump out of the way, but he hit Michelle, pinning her to the wall.

The closest hospital was in La Paz, which was a 6-hour ride over winding and twisting mountain roads.  Then, half-way to La Paz the ambulance (of sorts), breaks down for 1 ½ hours.  During this trip they’ve run out of pain medicine and so Michelle is having to endure this long trip in terrible pain. They go back to the U.S. so Michelle can heal and get more advanced medical treatment, and about 6 months later were back in their assignment. 

The Yungas are a different world, and even other Bolivians think the people in the Yungas are a bit odd. Imagine living in a town that's isolated from most other places and so all you know are the rules and attitudes of the mountain-people you've always lived around. It sort of has a feeling of the Wild West. Anyway, Austin and Michelle are now back in Irupana and doing wonderful really well.  I just really admire their courage and determination to go to an area where the need in Bolivia is really great.  Everyone in Bolivia knows there is a huge need in the Yungas (the territory of Iurpana includes 100+ towns in the Andes).  But most Need Greaters can’t live there – it’s just too hard for them.  Fritz & Kathy (BELOW) served in Irupana for about 18 months, and for those you that know Monty & Loretta Dinis and Matt Sigman, they went there for 3 months.  It’s just a rough assignment. 

Preaching in San Lorenzo….

Preaching has been good.  I still don’t have my own Bible Studies (my Spanish is still really limited), but I get invited to go on other people’s studies (which I really enjoy).  Most of the sisters in San Lorenzo are younger than me, but they’ve made me feel so welcome. They’ve found this great balance of forcing me to speak Spanish, including saying a prayer at their Bible Studies and reading the study material, but they don’t push me to the point where I’m stressed.  I like to think that in some way, as they get to know Jehovah and his beautiful organization, meeting Jehovah’s Witnesses from other countries helps to show them the world-wide unity and love of his organization.

As far as the territory goes – not much changes – mountains, mountains, and more mountains!   

Now, this is something you don’t see everyday.  This Puma was killing baby cows and so the owner killed it, had it stuffed, and it now hangs from the rafters in their balcony. MARTHA STEWART HAS NOTHING ON THEM!

This particular day, my transportation was a little red bug that transported 6 of us.  The brother would pick up 3 of us, drive us up the mountain a bit, drop us off to start preaching, and then drive back down the mountain to pick up the rest.  Poor thing, he had to spend most of the day playing chauffer to everyone. The houses in this area were pretty rustic with little to no walk-ways. So, it was challenging to try and get to some of the houses. 

This is Frabby and she’s preaching at a house without me because I was terrified that if I tried to walk down the path, I’d turn into Jill, would start tumbling down this hill, taking Frabby with me. So, we both agreed I should just stay put for this house….

It's hard sometimes to get pictures and videos of people.  The brothers & sisters get a bit self-conscious (Bolivians are shy by nature), and when you're talking to someone about Jehovah, there's not really an opportunity to ask them for a picture. So, I main just get pics of the scenery.

Priscilla has a Bible Study named Anara (in the blue sweater next to Pris) that Dawn gave her. Anara comes to the Sunday meeting and gives several comments each meeting. She’s a Cholita (traditional woman) and like all the Cholitas in our group, dresses in traditional Bolivian dress for women.  She’s really sweet, but has trouble reading and writing. So, one study each week (they have 2), Priscilla just helps her prepare the Watchtower and write down her answers in her own words.

Fritz & Kathy Arrive in Tomatitas….

Fritz and Kathy are a couple from Washington states that served in Irupana with Aubri.  Kathy is on the left in the black dress and Fritz – well, he’s the one with the moustache.  They’ve actually been in Bolivia for about 3 years now, and moved to Tarija about 1 ½ years ago.  They recently found a house for rent in our territory and this month began going to meetings in the Tomatitas congregation. Fritz is our new Field Service Overseer, and Kathy has been a real source of information and encouragement for me since coming to Bolivia.

She’s helped me to be realistic in my expectations of Bolivia, but also helped me to appreciate the beauty of being here.  I’m really excited that we’re now in the same congregation. Because of Fritz’ responsibilities as an Elder, they aren’t able to join the San Lorenzo group, but they plan on supporting the ministry there 2 days each week.

The Spanish Regional Convention...

Last weekend was our Regional Convention in Spanish.  We’re really fortunate in Bolivia in that not only do we have our Spanish convention, but the Bolivian branch decided to have a second convention in English at the branch itself.  The English convention is in the city of Santa Cruz the last weekend of October, and we’re all making plans to go. The Branch is really beautiful and the facilities they have for programs is pretty amazing.  I’m really excited.

But in the meantime, the Spanish convention was really nice.  It was my first Regional convention in Spanish.  The girls had given me copies of their notes from the convention they went to in Dayton, so it helped me to follow along with the Spanish.  I think most everyone that reads this blog has already been to their convention, but if not – SPOILER ALERT!  

The girls had told me some things but I had no idea how beautiful the videos would be.  A couple of them made me get teary – especially the one where they are recording the music – I don’t know why, it just did.  I also got teary when they showed the in-active sister that started coming back to meetings.  

A lot of non-Bolivians are scattered all over the area, and so we don’t get to see each other as much as we would like. But the convention (just like in the states), was a time to hug and see old friends.  Even though I couldn’t understand a lot of the program, I came away  feeling re-energized.  Most of the attendees were Bolivian, but you also had people there from other countries like… 

Our C.O. from France

                                  

New Zealand Spain

Brazil

                                                                    

United States

And Of Course, Bolivia

  

Ben, Dawn & Karen Get Home to Bolivia.....

After being back in England for 3 months, Ben and Dawn got back to San Lorenzo, just in time for our convention.  We all missed them so much and it's nice to have them back.  The kids are actually moving the end of October in a house right next door to where I live.  

Karen got back the same week from the US. They all had a wonderful time.  Karen got to attend Pioneer school in Arizona and visit New York and hear the Gilead Graduation program.

It’s kinda cute.  Everyone that leaves for home is always a bit lean and mean, then at home they eat good again, come back a bit heavier (we like to say healtheir-looking), and then within a few weeks of being back in Bolivia, get lean and mean again. Move to Bolivia – The Best Weight Loss Program EVER!

Who Wants to Swap Some Clothes?....

For the most part, you just don't get to see the friends serving in other areas very much. We’re fortunate to be in the same group as Ben, Dawn, and Karen. But some of our friends live many hours away. So, a sister named Amanda hosted a get together about a week ago that was so much fun.  It was a Clothes Swap.  While the gals hung out at her house, the guys came to my house.  It was just such a blast.  This is the girls wearing all their great new stuff.

It wasn’t quite the same type of gal fun as Candace’s Little Black Dress Parties (I hated to miss the last one), but still some fun Gal time. There were gals from New Zealand, Spain, England, the US, and Bolivia. 

So, that’s all the news for now.  I know I say this every blog, but I miss my friends and family back in the U.S. lots and lots and lots. Just know we’re in good hands here, Jehovah is taking good care of our family, and being here has been a wonderful and spiritually encouraging experience for our family.  It’s helped us to heal from the hurts and disappointments of this system, and to look forward with optimism to Jehovah’s new world.

Until the next time….