News from the Hughes…

I hope this message finds all of you doing well (as any of us can be in this world).  Things have been going good here and the girls and I are gearing up for a 2-month visit to see friends and family (Connor & Carla) in Europe. I'm looking foward to spending some time with my son and his new wife.  I'm crazy about Carla but the truth is I've only been able to spend a short time with her (2 months).  So, I'm going to make the most of this visit.

I'm excited that some of you have expressed an interest in coming to visit us in Bolvia -- WE LOVE HAVING VISITORS! The girls and I are hoping to visit the US next year and see everyone. As of today my plan is stay in Bolivia at least 1 more year and then figure out after that what to do.  The girls and I can get our permanent Bolivian residency in March 2018, which allows us to leave the country for up to 2 years. So, we're planning on getting our Permanent Residency! After that -- who knows! I like it here – I really do – and the preaching is like nothing I’ve experienced before.  But, after 2 ½ years I still struggle with the language, and I’m not getting any younger either. We’ll see what the future holds!

So, what's been going on here the last 2 months?  Well, of course there was all the excitement of writing and sending in our letters to Russia – WHY DOES RUSSIA GOTTA BE SO MEAN?  Bolivia has a Russian Consulate in La Paz and so the Bethel Branch sent out instructions that our letters could be sent to the Consulate here – which the Bolivian brothers & sisters did in full force.  It was really cool to hear stores from all over the world of experiences everyone was having in sending in their letters.  It was also really encouraging to be in Bolivia and yet feel part of this campaign to try and assist our dear friends and to see the friends all over Bolivia mobilize so quickly in support of each other.

Highlights of the San Lorenzo Memorial….

Of course the biggest highlight was the Memorial.  This year was special for San Lorenzo because we held two Memorials – one in San Lorenzo and another in a part of our territory called, “Carachimayo.  San Lorenzo doesn’t have its own Kingdom Hall yet, we rent a space for our meetings.  But, it’s Bolivia -- and so in addition to the general cleaning and upkeep, when damage happens from the rain and other major problems, the brothers and sisters have to take care of that! But, we’re Jehovah’s people – we’ve got this! There was plenty of work for all in our little make-shift Kingdom hall and even I was able to lend a hand.   

THE END RESULT…We head 87 in attendance in San Lorenzo (32 Publishers and 55 visitors)

But, as I mentioned earlier we also had 16 of our publishers travel to  Carachimayo for the day to clean and get the space ready for the 46 visitors that came = a total attendance of 62. 

So, for a congregation of about 48 Publishers we had a total attendance at both memorials of 149. Come on guys, you know you want to come and be a part of this. 

And while we couldn’t share this special time with Connor & Carla or Ben & Dawn, they made sure we were included.  And yes, that is Ben and Dawn’s new baby girl. Luna.

Special Visitors...


So, it’s pretty normal for someone in our congregation to have visitors.  For us, the month of March brought us our good friend Jamie. Some of you know her, she’s a sister that was in the Grandview Congregation in Indianapolis, and during our time at Grandview we all got really close.  Jamie now lives in Georgia and we hadn’t seen her for 2 ½ years. BUT NOW, here she was in Bolivia! It was just really special!

I was just so impressed with this little gal, who is no bigger than a minute, and yet was hiking up and down mountains, learning Spanish, and just taking all the newness of Bolivia in stride – and believe me when I say there is a lot here to adjust to. But Jamie did it and enjoyed her time here. The truth is that Bolivia is not everyone’s cup of tea.  It’s the poorest country in South America and it’s just very different from what we’re use to in more developed countries.  But Jamie not only adjusted but really liked Bolivia.

Who knows, maybe someday we’ll wake up and find that this Little Lady is coming to Bolivia long-term.  Dare I hope?  Anyway, to end her visit Aubri and Pris flew with her back to Santa Cruz to catch her flight home. But, before leaving the girls got to spend a few days together in Santa Cruz.

Some other visitors we had were two gals from California (friends of Fritz & Kathy Grainer) for a few weeks.  No, you're not seeing doble -- they're twins! It was cool because they came while Jamie was here and we all got to hang out a bit before Jamie left. Coral and Hunter were here for about 6 weeks and it was sooooooo nice having them here.  These gals have been to other countries before to preach including Ireland and Nicaragua and now they were here!  They were so much fun and the kinda of gals that you want so badly to make plans to move here. But, we enjoyed the time they were here and the girls even got to have a sleep-over with Aubri & Pris. COME BACK SOON BABY DOLLS!

Monty & Loretta (also from Indianapolis) arrived in Tarija, Bolivia a few days before the Memorial.   They’ve been serving in the Noblesville Spanish Congregation for about 3 years now, but they're here and we're hoping they'll stay for at least 1 year (if not longer).  Some of you know the Dinis’ from Indianapolis, while others might remember seeing Monty giving talks at the Circuit Assembly. 

The Dinis’ had visited Bolivia about 3 years ago, and spent about 2 months helping a little town called Irupana in Los Yungas.  It was a cool thing for us because Connor happened to be living in Irupana during their visit.  So, while we knew the Dinis Family from afar, we got to become friends.  Now they’re here and what’s really nice for us is that they’ll be helping out our little congregation in San Lorenzo – HOORAY!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST Andy & Natalie visited our family for a couple of weeks.  These kids are originally from Manchester, England but have been serving in a small town about 6 hours from Santa Cruz for the last 9 years.  We had a really nice time with them, despite all of us coming down with some nasty, nasty, mean flu bug. We're looking forward to seeing them again -- hopefully the end of October!

Who Remembers George?

I’m constantly amazed at how Jehovah’s organization is worldwide, and yet we’re always bumping into each other.   Many of you remember when we had George Alzin as a Circuit Overseer in Indianapolis. There is a couple from New Jersey that moved to Bolivia over a year ago and they were in  George’s old congregation back in New Jersey.  This couple is super cool (Jose and Karen Portugal) and he’s actually from Bolivia but has lived the last 30 years in the US. Anyway, after Jose retired they decided to move to Bolivia (we need brothers soooooo bad – I know, I sound like a broken record). 

Anyway, a couple of months ago the Portugal’s went back to the states for a wedding and got to visit with their old pal – George Alzin!  He even remembered our family and the kids (George was one of the teacher’s at Aubri and Connor’s Pioneer School), and sent a big HELLO to us in Bolivia!  

But, that wasn’t all…. Just a few weeks later we get this photo from a friend of ours whose from Bolivia, met Ann Heile at Connor’s wedding, and the two of them just happen to bump into each other at Warwick.  They both just happened to be visiting Warwick at the same time – what are the odds?

Ben & Dawn Have Their Baby

Another nice highlight for me was the arrival of Little Luna.  I’m waiting for Dawn to tell me to stop calling her that.  Her name is just Luna. But don’t you think Little Luna has a ring to it? Anyway, this little bundle of joy arrived on April 3^rd, blonde hair and blue-eyed like her mother.  Welcome to the world Little Princess! SHE’S SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL! But I know I’m a little biased!  We'll be visiting Ben, Dawn, & Luna this August -- I can't wait!

Special Highlights in Bolivia….

Something special that happened to us was that the girls and I received a Letter of Invitation from Bethel to attend this year’s Special Convention in Bolivia.  The Branch put together this really cool website where you can see photos of Bolivia and other information regarding this special event.  We’re super excited to have been invited (I haven’t been to anything like this since the International Convention in Indianapolis).  And we’re trying to figure out what traditional Bolivian dress we want to wear for this special Convention.  Anyway, you can check out news about the Special Convention here:

https://bo.jw2017.org/

Some other cool news is the Bolivian Bethel recently purchased a boat specifically for preaching trips up and down the river. Some of you may remember a segment in the broadcast where a group of brothers & sisters went on a 40-day boat trip up and down the river to preach.  The Bethel invited Regular Pioneers, 20 years old to apply if they would like to be a part of a river preaching trip.  Aubri is seriously wanting to apply!  But, for those of you that always wanted to be Tarzan of the Jungle – just come here and see what happens!

Fun Parties – San Lorenzo Style….

AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A SAN LORENZO PARTY! We had a couple of parties the last few weeks.  One was primarily focused on the young one’s in our congregation -- but everyone was invited.  It was soooooo nice.  Karen organized everything at her house and there were all kinds of arts and crafts including a self-made Sandbox/Cardboard castle, Making Giant Bubbles, Face Painting, Make Your Own Candy Necklaces, Decorating Cupcakes, and games. 

Everyone (adults & kids) had a blast!

Then a couple of weeks later the gals got together from all over Tarija for a Clothes Swap Party.  I had never heard of anything like a Clothes Swap Party until I came to Bolivia – BUT, I’VE BEEN TO 4 AND I LOVE THEM!  It’ a chance for gals to get together, have treats, and exchange clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry – you name it! Sometimes it’s just gals but sometimes (like this party) the guys get to come too and do their own Guy Thing!

Then about one week after that was a congregation party to say good-bye to Hunter & Coral (the twins), to welcome Monty & Loretta, and to celebrate the first Public Talk of one of our Ministerial Servants.  Fritz & Kathy didn’t want to focus too much on this -- but it was also a Going Away for the Grainers.  Fritz and Kathy were recently asked by the C.O. to switch congregations to help out a new congregation that’s being formed in another area.  We’re all sad they’re leaving San Lorenzo, but we have plans to still see them a lot – they’re still close bye.

The girls did a Bolivian Dance (of course)!

And a good friend and sister in our congregation sang for everyone.

It was a fun day of good friends & food -- fun for all!

Pet Update – Yeah, this is all!

Preaching Moments from San Lorenzo…

So, my blog update wouldn't be complete without a video of preaching moments including GOOD COMPANIONS...... RIVER CROSSING …..  ANIMAL LOVING…. AND OF COURSE MOUNTAINS…

Until next time, LOVE, HUGS, AND KISSES FROM TRACY

WAIT, JUST ONE MORE THING...... So, I got this really cute video of what life might be like in the new world complete with cute giraffs. I thought you guys might like to watch it.  It's just fun!