Just like Seymour Street…

While I was in Bolivia, Sunday’s certainly were a very special day.  After going to different churches for the first few weeks here, I settled in Communidad Cristo Belén (Christ Community Bethlehem) – named obviously after Jesus’ birthplace but also because that is the name of the neighbourhood where the church is!  Always a good sign.

I always felt so welcomed into church life, and everyone made such an effort to help me get involved, God was really looking out for me when he provided me with this amazing family:

If you remember, every Sunday I was also joined by Savannah and a small army of children from her home

Savannah works between 2 homes, one for babies and one for older children.  All the kids in the homes are orphans, have parents in jail or have been taken off the streets.  The stories of the kids really are incredible, and the homes truly do so much for them.  If you want to see more of what they do and see hilarious photos like their Christmas card photo shoot:

Check out Savannah’s blog for more – http://savannahdownsouth.blogspot.com/

I have been able to be at church twice since I’ve been back and they’ve been so welcoming all over again, but they all keep asking ‘You’re only here for 2 weeks?  Not forever?’  Sorry to disappoint!

Some of the tribe getting pumpedddd for church!

Savannah with her troops

One thing that’s definitely missing from church back home, the Pastor’s Britney-Spears headset!

After church we took the kids out for lunch which is always fun, because although these are the oldest kids in the home, the oldest one is 5!

Contrary to how it may appear, this little girl did request the photo and is not blind.

Much of the meal’s entertainment was provided by a wasp that flew into the juice….

“LOOK LOOK – THE WASP IS SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMING!!!!” (or maybe dying)

It has been so amazing to be able to see these little kids again and share some time with them, I’m going to miss those faces!

Pool Party? Por favor!

Since this week has been the boys’ last week of their summer holidays, I have been trying to take them out as much as possible before classes start back, and this week we took them all to the pool!

Although the roads tried to prevent us from getting there we arrived in style…

Did someone say get excited?  Only in height order please…

We had the whole day at the pool, from 10am – 6pm, and the boys definitely made the most of every minute in there…

Brothers Raúl and Alex getting pumpedd.

Such a good looking bunch

Loving the jacuzzi.

A definite highlight of the day was seeing who could do the craziest jump into the pool.  See you later non existent child protection rules!  WARNING.  This section is not for the faint hearted, these boys are definitely braver than me!

A casual cartwheel into the pool

Literally terrifying.

Also, I got to spend some quality time with the newest, and now the youngest, boy in the home, Oscár…

I wish this little guy had been around when I was there!

Just hanging with Josué.

Savannah came along too and brought some of her kids..

Life can be pretty tiring when you have to be in the pool all day!

All in all I think we had a pretty successful day!  It was so amazing to be able to spend time with them all again, and to watch them enjoying themselves so much outside the home, finishing their holidays on a high!  We still had a few more days though to squeeze in more trips, so don’t go anywhere…

SURPRISEEEEE!!!

So after 30 hours of traveling and some questionable methods of allowing me to pass through La Paz airport security in time to catch my flight, I arrived in Bolivia ready to get surprisin’

After heading to church and suitably shocking everyone there with my appearance, it was time to get down to business…

SURPRISE MAUGE!!!  (Well maybe she already knew a little bit, but I like to imagine that this is what it would have looked like.)

It was so good to see my Bolivian madre again, the last time being over the summer when she was with us, since neither of us had known when we would see each other again!

After surprising Mauge, she took me to the home, where the real surprises began…

Deymar was the lucky chico to open the door, for a few seconds all he could was stand at the gate saying “Tío Mateoooo?”  Yeah it is.

Then the shout went out…. TIO MATEO ESTA AQUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!! (TIO MATEO IS HEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!)

The director of the home wasn’t there when I went, but she called the home while I was there, and she definitely got a surprise when I started speaking back to her on the phone!

We arranged to meet the following day…

And she had brought a surprise for me…. RUBEN!

Rubén was the youngest boy in the home when I first arrived and was quite a character, if you remember he was the one who punched one of the oldest boys so hard that his nose bled!  He went back to live with his family about a year ago, but every month Cristina takes him for a few days to relieve the load from his mum, who has just recently taken charge of one of the babies of her other children.  He’s still as feisty as ever, but I’m not complaining!

It has been such an amazing blessing to be able to see all of these people again, who were the staples of my life for nearly 10 months.  It seems strange to be back, but at the same time, it feels so good!  God blessed me so richly through each and every person and child I knew here and it really is a dream come true to back amongst them again!

I am so thankful to all of you who have remembered me in their prayers thus far during my trip, it really has been felt.  Stay tuned for more updates of the craziness which no doubt will ensue…