News from the Hughes
Has It Been One Year Already?
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.
Some Visitors from the States --Jeremy,
Rebecca & Rachel….
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…
Attending the English Regional Convention in Santa Cruz….
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.
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.
Has It Been One Year Already?
I can’t
believe that October 18th 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.
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...
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.
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. …
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!
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?
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 2nd 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.
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
