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! :)