Back in Bolivia

So we made it back! To our amazement, our AeroSur flight actually left a couple of minutes early!  This was a huge surprise given that last time our flight was not only rescheduled for two days later, our flight time of 9pm ended up being 4am.  Not only did we make it, so did all of our luggage which is a huge praise!  Internet is once again patchy until we're in our own place with consistent wifi, but we're trying to keep you all updated until then. Much, much more to come!

Thoughts on John the Baptist

So I (Weatherly) have been reading John McArthur's Commentary on the book of Matthew recently and am struck by the man of John the Baptist. When I think of him, I remember his story, but when looking deeper, I realize just how much I have missed. I had no idea that Jesus referred to him as the "greatest of men" (Matthew 11:11). Wow, seems like I would definitely want to be more like this guy, except if I'm honest, I'm not sure, because it seems so uncomfortable. First of all, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth which is an amazing fact (Luke 1:15b). Secondly, his life purpose was to make way for the arrival of Christ. But it was not a bunch of press releases or bios, it was calling on Israel to repent of their sins and be baptized. Two interesting facts here (per McArthur): 1. As God's chosen people, the Israelites thought they were doing things right but along comes a man who challenges their very heart. 2. Baptism was not a known concept at the time. Ceremonial washing for the atonement of sin was a consistent (not one time) command and did not include the whole body. In fact, the only people who went through a similar cleansing where Gentiles when they accepted the Jewish faith. So John not only tells the Israelites they need to repent (a cleansing of their hearts), but has them go through a ceremonial cleansing only for Gentiles (a despised people group). Talk about controversial! And finally, John lived in the wilderness, eating only locusts and wild honey and wearing a "garment of camel's hair, and a belt about his waist" (Matthew 3:4). Not exactly a suit and tie of today's age or even the robes of the religious leaders of the time. I am convicted how I would act around someone so radical, who shook up my faith and lived so differently. Admittedly, growing up in a formal church, I still hold fast to my traditions of dress code and propriety. But here, we see "the greatest man" as proclaimed by Christ with one thing- a passion to make way for his Lord, without any regard to being proper or likable. Oh to have that kind of courage and commitment that only comes from the Holy Spirit!

We've Got Return Tickets!

Sorry for not posting while we are in the states.  We figured we would leave this blog to be about our time overseas as life in the US is somewhat predictable :)  On that note, we've got tickets back to Bolivia- yay!  Please check out our newsletter for details: http://eepurl.com/iHdGT

Creature Comforts

So getting used to a new city is always an adjustment. Getting
acquainted to another culture is even more difficult at times. We've
battled illness while adjusting to new foods, struggled miserably with
the lack of internet, and pushing cars down the street is not all that
uncommon. Even though stray dogs are about as common and abundant as
ants around here, one way we have satisfied our cravings for the
familiar is by befriending "Daisy 2". This super-sweet dog "lives" on
the corner near our house. There have been several nights where we
will make a return trip to the local super mercado to by a little
something extra to give to our new friend. She looks like and has
many of the same mannerisms as our girl, Daisy (1). We're pretty sure
she doesn't officially have an owner, even though she hangs out at
this local car wash / body shop, so when we return next year, there's
a chance that she may be adopted. It's the least we can do for a poor
street dog.

...don't worry, we're still going to help the children get adopted too.

Internet Woes

So this last week we were finally able to get a good amount accomplished due to our new "high speed" Internet. We, as self-professed total geeks, finally felt normal again. However, yesterday our Internet went from great to almost non-existent. So today JM marched into the tech company to complain, only to find out that our "unlimited" plan is actually capped at 10GB of data. Well, leave it up to the Hulseys to go through a month's worth of data in one week. Oh and just to twist the knife, they punished us on the day iOS 5 came out! So if you see us online, be assured we're back to bumming Internet from our friends.

Incachaca Waterfalls

This Saturday we woke up early (yes, we know, a first for the Hulseys) to go with our teammates, the Morels, and one of our favorite World Racers, Emily, to the Incachaca Waterfalls.  We traveled about two hours outside of Cochabamba, past one of our orphanage sites (see this post) to the jungle.  We were lead on about a three-hour tour, first down to see the waterfall and then up the mountain to a panoramic view.  It was beautiful!  And of course, our crazy gringo selves decided it would be just awesome to swim in the freezing cold water at the bottom of the falls.  Admittedly, the water was beautiful and clear and we all had a blast, despite the hypothermia.  During the hike up the mountain we were all “sucking wind” as the altitude was pretty high, but it was a great workout and totally worth the views.  Yes, yes, even I may turn out to be hiker- shocking!

Granted, this week as been full of “field trips” but it’s always good for us to get outside and enjoy Bolivia so that we remember that there is more to look at than our computer screens.

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Roasting Coffee- Bolivian Style

John Mark and I are helping to rebrand Bolivia’s Best Coffee, the main source of income for the orphanage families.  So on Friday, in order to do some “coffee research” we got to go to our local Bolivian roaster (we have a different roaster in the US) and see exactly what takes place.  It was an awesome experience!  From roasting the beans, to cooling them, grinding them and bagging them, we got to see and participate in the whole process.  As if we were not coffee fans already, watch out world, Bolivia’s Best Coffee might just be the next new Starbucks, but for a really amazing cause.

And by the way, our hair smelled like coffee for days!

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