we've got the movies, you bring the popcorn!

hello friends,
after our sweat and our smoking computers we thought we would share some of our hard work with you guys before we touch the states soil. we hope you like them! we are packing some heavy suitcases and camera bags this morning and then we are off to santa cruz. it's a sad day for us trying to leave bolivia and the people we have come to love, but don't worry we are still excited to see all of you so we hope you're excited to see us! well i better be off to packing! see some of you soon!


this is a video of the radio station for the quechua communities


this is a video of the sete ministry - a ministry that trains pastors.


this is a video of the story of pastor greggario, a local pastor in cochabamba.

what? did someone say march?

hi friends,

honestly it's march today, how crazy. sometimes when i look back on the past two months it flew by and other times when i look at everything we saw, photographed and are now attempting to communicate through videos, design and writing it feels like forever! so that is basically what we have been up to this week. it has been a flurry of editing, making videos, writing and of course the souvenir shopping, which i must say went very well! but friends its time to put this trip to a close.

we have just two more days here in cochabamba. on monday morning we will fly out to santa cruz where we need to spend the night and then we fly back to the states on tuesday and spend a day in charlotte for debriefing and then fly home to good old cold iowa on wednesday evening. so its a full schedule. but these next two days are critical in attempting to do as much work as we can while its all still fresh in our memories. God is working in bolivia so powerfully as i have said before and we are just two kids trying to record that. it feels like a huge job to be honest with you.

one story from yesterday will stick in my mind forever. we were going with the ministry called "la red." la red is a ministry that works with the youth leaders of bolivia. they train, support and encourage them as almost all of them are unpaid, untrained, volunteer positions. the ministry also works at reaching out in the community by working with the people who live at the dump. thats right friends, the dump. so we drove to the outskirts of town to the cochabamba landfill. it was this HUGE pile of garbage standing at the base of a small mountain. and when we looked closer we could see people climbing on top of it. we got out of the car in a very small community and began to walk closer to the pile of trash. we got to the opening of the gate that surrounded it when a man stopped us and talked with us for a bit and asked if we would please not take any photographs because so many people had come and photographed this community and really put these people on display. we came to know later that this whole community works on this huge trash pile everyday sorting out things that can be recycled. from plastic to aluminum to electronics, they search it all and sell it to the recycling companies in the city for around $3 per kilo. we also learned that these people are ashamed of themselves. if you reach out to shake their hand they will give you their wrist because they feel their hands are too dirty and they will never lift their heads to look you in the eye because they feel they are not worthy. so there i stood watching these two women dig through a small pile of trash in front of me. reeking of everything nasty and flies buzzing all around me. its an image i wasn't able to photograph, but an image i will never forget. and behind me stood this huge pile covered with people sorting. it was something so hard i couldn't wrap my mind around it. this was their life. they woke up everyday and dug through other people's garbage. so what la red is doing here is trying to change their lives with really small things. the first thing they did was put a water tank in the community because they are unable to use the water from the area because of all the contamination. the second thing they want to do is build showers so that the workers can come off the pile of trash and wash themselves before going home. the homes there were about 8ft x 10ft for an entire family but contained no running water. also the homes used to be built out of trash but the local university donated money for them to build their homes from brick. so all around the landfill you saw these tiny little brick houses. friends, its hard to imagine but God is working here even in this community. it was amazing and left me speechless for a good part of the rest of the day.

it is stories like these that we desire to tell in these next few days and when we get home. we would love your prayers that we finish strong here and continue to spread God's stories from bolivia as long as we can. your support through this journey has made it all possible, i wish we could show you that. all the emails, msn conversations, phone calls and everything else is what kept us going. well i better be off to some more editing and tackle this huge list of videos i need to make as well. and don't worry we promise to have a little fun before we leave too. we will check-in with you guys if we can. otherwise we will see some of you very soon! adios!

last week already?!

we have arrived safely back in Cochabamba! Our time in LaPaz was a whirlwind, but it was wonderful. The team is much smaller there in LaPaz, but God is doing some incredible things for sure! There are two church plants, one that on Sunday morning was running out of space with over 200 people in attendance, and the other, a brand new (4 month) old church where in the last month, three cubans have come to Christ! God is just doing amazing things through this team, through the Bolivians who have been raised up to lead their church and youth groups, and who are reaching out to those in their communities, regardless of what other people think of them. (a large number of Cubans have been sent by Fidel Castro to Bolivia, to encourage the Communism movement) One particular Bolivian woman involved in this new church plant stepped out when everyone else was leary, and welcomed the Cubans with open arms, and this past week another man accepted Christ at church! Praise God!

One of our favorite things while being in LaPaz was the time we were able to spend getting to know team members, and hear their stories. To be able to sit and listen to how God stirred their hearts to take the next step to serving overseas, to hear their joys and their struggles. To once again be reminded of what our God can do through ordinary people! We serve a big God, a God who delights in using US to fulfill His plan, no matter what our gift may be.

Thanks for praying us through our Sucre and LaPaz trips- there was no altitude sickness for either of us, just a lot of heavy breathing after climbing stairs! :)

Hard to believe we have only a week left here in Bolivia! You can be praying for us as we attempt to finish off our to-do list before we head back to the States. We will be spending most of our time up in our apartment hammering the list out! (and some last minute souvenir shopping, of course) :)

out of shape...or just the altitude? you be the judge!

hi friends,

we promise we didn't fall off the face of the earth because it has been so long since we have updated. we have been too busy trying to fill our lungs with oxygen that it has left little energy for typing. just kidding. well to give you the latest joni and tbone bolivia buzz here it is. we are currently in la paz, which sits at about 12,000 feet where we are staying. and its the coolest city because its just like a huge bowl. the roads here are insane though i must say.....going up and down like crazy! you want to make sure you get your brakes checked regularly here that is for certain. there is a fairly small team in la paz and so we are going to work closely with the missionaries here in the next five days. the team is looking for us to really record them and what their lives are like. it is a different misison for us thus far on our trip, but we are pretty pumped about it! so we are going to be doing some interviewing and photos and all that fun stuff at the same time. they also would really like us to write a lot so its time to dust off the pen and paper and see what we can do. so you guys can pray for us as we do this job for the missionaries here. we also are trying to have some fun too! :) yesterday we went to lake titicaca which is the highest, deepest navigable lake in the world! while we were there we went to what is called the island of the sun which is full of inca ruins! one of the ruins happens to be a HUGE flight of stairs. so up we climbed without much oxygen, and we get winded from just climbling like ten stairs at our apartment. but no worries we made it. it was a fantastic day of fun! other than that its down to the work desk for the rest of our trip.

and friends let me tell you about sucre as well. we were in sucre from february 13-18. we LOVED sucre. not that we don't like the other cities here in bolivia, but sucre has got such character from the people to the architecture to the chocolate shop which was our favorite. :) we also did a lot of photo shoots while we were there to help the missionaries on their home assignment presentations and also to help fill the need for people to come and work with the quechua people. we were able to take a trip up into the countryside once again and were blessed like crazy once again. a quechua community let us in and we were able to photograph their life. friends, the world is big and so diverse, God has got quite the creativity! that trip to the countryside was also where we had the "opportunity" to hike a mile and a half straight up a mountain in ohhhhh about ZERO oxygen! we now know what the tortoises pace was in his race with the hare! us iowans being the tortoise and the bolivians being the hare! oh funny stuff! alrighty well life has been good getting busier by the second as we only have about two weeks left here in bolivia and a to do list as long as that hike up that mountain! so i better run and get to some editing and writing. we love hearing from all of you when you get the chance. we hear that iowa is freezing today so we promise to send as much warmth from here as we can. i hope you all are doing great! thanks for all your support, this trip and these photos wouldn't happen without you guys! hasta luego!

ps-we'll post photos as soon as we can and as this internet speed allows! :)

venturing off to the lands of higher altitude!

Hello friends-

We are glad to announce that we have been water balloon free since Saturday! :) what a relief!
Tomorrow morning we start some more traveling! Our flight leaves at 8:50 am to head to the city of Sucre, where we will be for 4-5 days, really focusing on the needs they have for more people to come and work among the Quechua. Then after that we will be heading to the city of LaPaz, where the altitude at the lowest point is 11,000 ft and rising! It is the home of the highest commercial airport in the world... where planes don't land, they just stop! So you can pray that the altitude sickness we will experience won't last very long! I stopped at the pharmacy today and bought us some pills for it, so lets hope they work!

We will be returning back to Cochabamba on the 25th of February. We are really excited to be able to see other parts of Bolivia.. not that we haven't enjoyed Cochabamba, but we keep hearing great things about Sucre and La Paz,- we are ready to experience it for ourselves!

Thanks for praying!

carnaval.......check that one off the list

friends have we got a story for you,

ok so we thought carnaval was only on monday and tuesday as i had mentioned in our previous entry. but we were informed that no, carnaval goes until today, Sunday. so our dear friend amalia asked if we wanted to go and see the parade. we looked at her and said, "are we gonna get wet?" she assured us we would get a little wet but we thought, "why not this will totally be worth it because we heard the costumes and dancers would be unbelievable." so yesterday afternoon we headed out. and the next part really is just a blur. but first let me back up.... as you may remember the belief here is that water symbolizes fertility thus causing boys to throw water balloons at any young woman. ok so back to the blur. so we get to the bridge that leads into the plaza of the city where the parade is taking place. and we look ahead to see all these boys with BAGS and BAGS and BAGS of water balloons about the size a baseball, water guns, and buckets. and not only are we looking at them but they are most certainly looking at us, like we are the next kill in the hunt for young white woman. we kept walking and we don't know how to describe it except for maybe like a war zone. within about 30 seconds we were soaked from head to toe and had about 15 welts all over our backs and faces, because nowhere in this belief does it say that you must throw the water balloons gently. in the middle of the bridge i looked back and couldn't find joni. later i found out someone had thrown a water balloon so hard that it caused her shades to go flying. so there she was like a sitting duck in the middle of a war zone on almost all fours looking for her shades. when she finally found them she realized one of the lenses was gone. she thought i need to get out of here and decided to leave the missing lens behind. but a good samaritan found her lens and came running to her with it. i think that might have been the only good samaritan there was. :)

so we made it over the bridge and in my mind i thought, holy smokes at least thats over. but little did we know it would continue our whole walk down the plaza, which was about an eight to nine block walk. it was a blur of being hit by water balloons from head to toe, being sprayed with white foam from head to toe and trying to keep track of each other in what was the biggest mob of people i have ever seen. at one point my face was completely covered with white foam that a gentleman had so kindly sprayed on me and i went to wipe my face with my hand only to discover they both were covered. so i moved on to my shirt only that was covered as well. i looked ahead and saw that joni's shirt was pretty clean, wet but clean. so i went to grab her shirt to wipe my face but she assumed i was some crazy man trying to feel her up. so took a swat at me. good thing i had one clean eye that i saw her hand with. finally after what seemed like hours we reached a spot where we could see the parade and also i had a good view of incoming balloons so i could at least prepare us for the incoming bomb shells. and let me tell this parade, once we got to see it, really was cool. there are groups that come from all over bolivia and dress up in amazing costumes and do a native dance. the parade is non-stop starting around 9:00 am, and we still heard them last night when we went to bed around 11:00 pm.

but soon our wet clothes started to chill our bodies. so we decided to make the journey home. luckily we only had to walk about two blocks out of the plaza and catch a taxi. once safely in the taxi we were able to see all the craziness clearer. its indescribable. they must go through a million balloons every hour, i swear. the ground is just covered. after a small traffic jam we finally found ourselves at home. soaked and cultured for sure, but laughing about every moment. its a day we won't forget for a long time. joni had taken her small camera and wrapped it about 7 times in a plastic bag so here are some of the images she grabbed! hope you enjoy!!!!!!!

this was a common costume style for the ladies. and check out those high heels - crazy ladies but at least they are dry

some of the men's costumes were really elaborate - costing up to $1,000

a boy still trying to get us wetter while we were inside the taxi

this was the first war zone - the bridge

and give it up for the carnaval survivors!

where did january go......

friends,

i can't hardly believe as i sit here in our apartment that january has flown by and also that we haven't updated this blog since last week tuesday. so let me give all you guys a brief window into the lives of tbone and joni here. as some of you know and some of you don't, joni and i decided to make some friends with some amoebas and parasites who made residence in our stomachs. not really the kind of friends we were looking to make, but man did they want to be friends with us. therefore joni and i became good friends with our bathroom as well. it lasted about 5 days for both of us. first i got it and then it moved on to joni. but after two doses of medication and a lot of rest we are feeling back on top of things again. thanks to so many of you who prayed us through that.

meanwhile bolivia has been rockin out. the past three days there has been a festival happening all over the city of cochabamba. it isn't a great festival to be honest with you. the holiday is known as a pagan holiday where the catholics believe that they can commit any sin for those three days. so the air has been filled with fireworks and the sounds of bands and partying. they also believe that water is a symbol of fertility. thus the boys feel the need to hurl water balloons and buckets of water at young women (aka-joni and i). we only had two water balloons actually hit us so we were thankful for that.

so whats next for me and joni????? well, we about 5 days left here in cochabamba before we travel out to la paz and sucre (two other cities here in bolivia where SIM works.) so in those 5 days we are taking what we have photographed and seen and trying to produce the products requested for each ministry. so honestly guys we covet your prayers. its a big time for us to take all the work we have done in the last month and put it into a message that will touch the hearts of everyone who comes in contact with it. because let me tell ya guys, God is working here and it is sooooooo clear to us. we just pray that we can communicate that in everything we do in the next few days.

ok so that is us in a nutshell from the past week. we hope this message finds all of you staying warm and living life to its limits. talk to you soon...... adios!