Choco Loco!

Buenos Dias de Trinidad, Bolivia! As of today we have been here for one week and the time has flown by. We are preparing for camp today (El Campamento en Chaco) and are a little nervous for whats in store for the next week. Camp consists of a rigorous daily schedule of exercise, devotions, guest speakers, skits, songs, and dance, all out towards the jungle of Trinidad. Students from 8th grade to 12th grade will be attending camp and we have all been split into four groups: green, yellow, blue, and red. Each group has 6 leaders and about 35ids in each group, totaling around 140 students. Each of us have been made leaders, some are paired up with other teachers to help them with their spanish speaking. I have not been paired up with any other teachers because they are confident in my spanish skills.... we'll see how that goes. It's amazing how fast you can get a headache when you've got ten kids all speaking spanish to you at the same time fighting for your attention. It's a little overwhelming at times but we are very thankful for their patience and willingness to teach us new words. We are leaving for camp today in an hour and will not be back until Friday, so parents, don't expect any communication because we will have no phone or internet in the jungle. : ) We're excited to see how creative the kids will get with their skits and songs for the week. This week's theme for camp is God's Faithfulness. He sure has been faithful to us during our time here so far!

Lately, we have been taking more tours around the city of Trinidad and realizing the poverty level outside of La Palmera. The polarization between the rich and the poor is surprising and sad. There are several mansions that would sell for well over 1 million dollars in the US that are directly next to a house made of stick and tarp. Dogs roam the streets, horses eat from the trash, cats and chickens cohabitate in the front yards and raw sewage runs down the city streets. Everyone rides motorcycles instead of cars and there are no stops signs. People drive relatively slow and can fit 4 to 5 people on a moto. Taxi's are in the form of motorcylces and the signal for a taxi drivers is a baseball cap. If a man is not wearing a baseball cap on the moto, he is not a taxi. (Yes dad, that means I have ridden on the back of a motorcycle in Bolivia!) The richer folk have cars and yesterday we were invited to go swimming with two women from our church so we crammed 10 people into a Hydunai hatchback! Three of those ten people were kids so that helped a little but it is still very different than the US. Wearing seat belts isn't a law, wearing helmets while on a moto isn't a law, and the political system is so corrupt here that even if you got pulled over for driving too fast we could pay off the policeman and they'd let you free.

On Saturday we went to the river and ate delicious fish at a nice cabana. We ordered 3 different kinds of fish so we could all try them all. The first was fried with bones, the second was fished made into balls with no bones and fried, and the third was bonesless fish pieces in a rich red sauce: pescado frito, chicharon, boduo. We atethe fish with rice, yucca (a type of potato and coca-cola). We drink a lot of Coca-Cola because it's safer than drinking the water. Natives in Trinidad swear that the Coca-Cola made here is the best you'll ever taste. They claim it's because it is made with the water from Trinidad that gives it a special taste.... we say it's because of the actual coca from the coca leaves. We still aren't sure if either of those are true but we do know that it always gets us "bended" (aka crazy on sugar and caffeine). We are known as Chocos Locos because we are loud. energetic and fun!

Well, wish us luck and a blessed time at Chaco this week! We love you and miss you all!

Hugs and kisses from the Bolivia crew!

Chao,

Carli (but the Bolivians know me as Ana)

Viva Bolivia!

Bienvendidos from beautiful Bolivia!! Today the weather is the nicest it's been since we've got here . . . feels almost like the weather in SLO! As expected, the weather has been hot and humid since we've been here, so the locals are all wearing sweatshirts today because they think its cold!!

The locals have been incredibly hospitable to us. We can truly see the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ down here. I don't know a whole lot of spanish but you don't need to know very much to see how joyful these Bolivians are that we are here. They bring so much joy to us as well! The kids are especially joyful and all of us have made many new friends. Although we have varying language skills, we have all been able to form great relationships! It amazes me how patient they are with our limited language skills. Learning spanish has been both difficult and rewarding. Each time I'm able to understand them or they are able to understand me, I see it as a mini victory. We've all grown in our spanish skills in this jam-packed first week. We really would be blogging more but the first week has really been that busy; it's been filled with devotionals, church, going to camp, playing soccer and other sports, hanging out with the kids, going downtown, painting, and many other things that I just don't have the time right now to expound on ;-) . . . Haha, yes it has been busy but we've had experiences here this first week that we will remember for the rest of our lives, and I'm sure there are many more to come!!

Today we leave for camp out in the jungle and we will be there until Friday. There will be 141 kids participating and each of us on the team will be leading small groups. The camp will be filled with devotionals, worship services, soccer, volleyball, games, skits, and plenty of joy and laughter I'm sure. We are looking forward to serving and forming relationships with the kids. We hope to be a blessing to them and I know they will be to us. The sermon yesterday at church talked about the passage from Matthew 18 which says that "whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." I'm excited to see how we can learn from these children this week and I'm excited to see God's presence out in the middle of a South American jungle camp on the faces of each of these kids!

Well, that's all for now I guess. Thank you for all of your prayers and support! We love you all! God bless!

Tyler

Dia Numero Dos

Well here we are in Bolivia on our 3rd day, and already I feel like I'm part of the community. I feel like I already have friends here, and they call me "Choco", which they call Stephen as well even though he's been here 6 years because Choco is basically slang around here for white boy or "Gringo". But they say it somewhat out of affection. One kid likes to call me Choco loco. Which would mean crazy white boy. Anways, our second day, I woke up sweating. Apparently Trinidad was going through a heat wave. And it's always hot, but somehow I'm acclamating already. Then, we went to a morning little devotion with the teachers and staff at the school and Carlos Hugo gave a little sermon for the day. I tried hard to understand, but it's hard because I only understand bits and pieces, so I can't fully understand them yet. Then we ate breakfast at Lorna's, where I ate "Zucaritas" which are Frosted Flakes. Nothing's different except for the name. Then we were supposed to begin painting a house down the street, but we didn't have the materials yet, so we hung out with Stephen and we sorted out our money situation and we talked for a while. Then, we had lunch at the school, and we ate at the cafeteria that the kids all eat at, but we were first. So when we were finished, we were walking back to our room and a flood of kids came in, and they wanted us to eat with them, so we each sat at the head of a table of about 10kids. They all wanted to talk to us, but it was so loud already, and on top of that, it was in spanish, so I personally had a difficult time just hearing them in the first place, but I talked to them a bit. Then, we were ready to paint after a while, and so we painted at this person's house (somebody who's part of La Palmera) and we worked for about 3 hours. Then we had time to shower and it was time for dinner. We had pollo la pina, which is pineapple chicken. Then it was time for the soccer game. It was La Palmera vs. another team, Stephen is the coach for the La Palmera team. They lost, but it was a great game, and it was so cool to be there. They're a semi-pro team, but I think they were definitely at my level of play. It was a great time. Thanks for reading, and there will be more later. I'm off to go with my team to a celebration that involves people and fire. Hasta Luego. Ciao.

We're here!!!

After months of preparation, language prep, church fundraisers (pancake dinner, bake sale, yard sale, etc), letters of support, bonding outings, we flew to Trinidad, Bolivia and arrived at CCC La Palmera that we've heard about for so long.

For me, I was so excited when I left from SFO, joking with my fellow team mates while we waited for the plane to take off. And yes, the SFO group almost did miss our connection in Miami, but it's a good thing that Andrew and Chad run fast so they could hold the gates open. Almost all of us got sick in La Paz because of altitude sickness. Stephanie and Bryce got it the worst. And even though it was -1 degrees Celcius when we arrived in La Paz, it was 'hot like a sauna' when we arrived in Trinidad about 24 hours from the beginning of my travels.

We were welcomed by a team of Bolivians and Stephen, a Scotsman who is a longterm missionary here at CCCLP. Some of the Bolivians were staff, like Carlos Hugo the Pastor, and the rest were students who heard there were two American girls coming. ;-) They had a welcome sign and everything.
Lorna, the pround mother/founder of CCCLP and also Scottish, treated us to lunch (fries with meat and hot sauce on top.) and then we had a much appreciated resting period before we went to the birthday party of the 7 year old daughter of Carlos Hugo! Some of us team members took the opportunity to play basketball with some kids. (It was a holiday for the school kids so there weren't many at school) At the party, the whole family was there sitting and talking in the back yard. There was a fancy cake, great food, sodas, and music. Us team members also sat and talked, but we mostly talked to the kids. Carli started dancing wish some girls and Bryce had a good balloon fight with some of kids. Lots of fun and a good way to start the trip.
Right away we all noted the amazing hospitality shown by the kids, staff, parents, and fellow missionaries. So friendly!
There's always more to write, but I'm going to pass the computer (Stephan is kindly letting us use his) onto Bryce.

Love,
Jonathan

A bit about Bolivia

Hello. My name is Kristyn and I have been privilidges to get this fabulous team ready for their summer adventures. I was blessed with my first trip to Bolivia in 1998 and returned in 2000. I am attaching a few pictures, links, and youtube videos for you to see a glimpse of the opportunities that might present themselves to this great team of eight. "OCHO" Team Ocho has arrived safely in Trinidad, Bolivia. They flew from LAX and SFO and nearly missed their flight in Miami. The plane was held by the power of prayer- and the team traveled together to La Paz. They cleared customs, found their next plane and boarded to their final destination. I am sure we'll be hearing their stories shortly. Blessings!

I have attached a few links that you might find helpful and interesting. Blessings, and know we are all supporting and praying for our young adults and all they meet. May God go before them and provide them with travel mercies.

-Kristyn Mitchell

http://ccclapalmera.org/en/index.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7O2lYzucH8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HMSVO1dB00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TryA5ND__w&feature=related

http://boliviateam2006.blogspot.com/2006/07/to-lucho-lorna-ccc-la-palmera.html

http://teamlapalmera.org/Site/Home.html

BOLIVIA - TRINIDAD OUR FOCUS Children's Youth

OUR MISSION

THE TEAM

Lucho & Lorna Velez (Colombia/Scotland) - Project Leaders
Jimmy Bollinger (USA) - Computer Program Director
Other volunteers from independent churches and organizations

OUR MINISTRY - WEBSITE

"La Palmera" Christian Cultural Center:

• School based ministry that reaches out to a poor community for all grades of basic education
• Social Department ministry that bridges La Palmera school with the parents and families of the students.
• Evangelical Community of Brethren Church
• Medical/dental clinic for the project/community
• Soccer and basketball programs for children
• Semi-professional soccer team exemplifying Christian character and serving as role models
• Community outreach
• Developing retreat center 30 min from Trinidad to be used for camps, retreats, etc.
• Relationship building with members of the project

YouTube - Videos from this email

Andrew

HI!

Jonathan is writing for Andrew, but here's something about him!

Andrew is a bright, young lad of 22 and is a transfer student into Cal Poly as an architectural engineer, graduating in the Fall! He is the oldest of 3, (as far as I know) one brother, Nate, and one sister, Gina. His hometown is Carmichael, California, where he learned to grow a manly mustache and to love hawaiian shirts and Ross's DUBS shoes.

He enjoys golf, skateboarding, backpacking, mountain biking, jogging, and making and eating cake! (Very true. We golfed together just a few weeks ago, he ran a marathon last year with minimal training in 3 hours 36 minutes and a year before that he placed 14th in a 10K with a mile pace of 6:47, and he's always experimenting with different mixes of cake flavors! ... like banana and chocolate in his pineapple cake molds!) Andrew has been apart of the Wesley group since before I've been attending for 2+ years now.

Personally, I find Andrew to be a breath of fresh air. There's so much originality, love, and laughter that comes from a character like his. I know he will touch many lives in Bolivia, and I'm so glad he's a part of this group.

-Jonathan

Tyler

Hola mis amigos!!

That's about the extent of my spanish right there . . . Well I know a little more than that but not much, which is one of my concerns about this trip . . . but I know that God has a plan for me and each one of us for going on this exciting trip to Bolivia. For those of you who know even less spanish than me, amigos translates to friend. I'm really looking forward to all of the amigos I'm going to meet on the trip and all of the great amigos on this mission team: Chad, Carli, Andrew, Stephanie, Jonathan, Bryce, and Patrick.

So a little bit of my background . . . I grew up in Fallbrook, CA and lived there my whole life until I started college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I graduated this past March with a degree in civil engineering. I like to dance, and play the piano and guitar. I like to run, hike, and bike, play just about any sport. As far as music goes, I'm a country nut and I'm crazy about Brad Paisley!!

Relationships mean everything to me. First and foremost, my relationship with God. God gives me strength to do things I never thought I could do . . . like go to Bolivia!! God has blessed me with so many incredible relationships! My family is so loving and supporting as are my friends and girlfriend, Carli. I definitely don't deserve it, that's simply God's amazing love and grace!! I look forward to all of the new relationships that will form as a result of this mission trip!

Going on a mission trip to another country has been something that God has put on my heart for a while now. I'm so excited that it's finally here! It has been neat to see how God brought this mission trip into fruition. I was very active in the Lutheran and Episcopal campus ministries while in San Luis Obispo. On the ride to our annual Life and Faith Retreat that we do with the Wesley Fellowship, Carli and I met Dave, Kristyn's husband, and he told us about this trip. One thing led to the next and here we are, going on this exicting mission trip to Bolivia with this great group of people from the Wesley Methodist Fellowship. God is so good!!

Chad

So, I like to drink milk and explore. Finished my 3rd year at Cal Poly and looking forward to South America, good friends, good setting, good food (I'll get used to it), what more..Thanks be to God. Later

PS I am older than that picture, but I kind of look like that. Later again.

Carli

Buenos Dias!

My name is Carli Orsi and I am a Cal Poly graduate. I just recently graduated this year in June with a B.A. in English, minors in Spanish and Linguistics, and a TESL Certificate. I was a Peer Minister at Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church in San Luis Obispo, cleaned houses, tutored a seventh grade student, and loved my time in SLO. I really enjoy hiking, backpacking, bonfires at the beach, making new friends, cooking, talking and, of course, reading!

I found out about this mission trip to Bolivia when I went on a retreat to Camp Ocean Pines with the Lutheran Church and met Kristyn and Dave Mitchell. I expressed my desire to travel abroad again (I studied in Spain for 4 months in the Fall of 2008), and Kristyn quickly informed me of her plans for a Bolivia mission trip. I jumped at the opportunity to be involved with a faith based group volunteering their time to serve God. I am very excited to experience a new culture, meet the wonderful Bolivian people, and see how God works through me to help others in need. I also anticipate God working through the many people that I will encounter daily to challenge me, changing my views of the world and myself. One of my odd goals in life that I am hoping to achieve while in Bolivia is spearing a fish! I would love to make my own spear out of obsidian and wood, and spear my own fish to eat for dinner... we'll see how that works out. I'll keep you posted. : )

I am from a small town named Ukiah in Northern California where my dad, mom, younger brother and sister live. This will be the first summer that I do not go home and I will miss my family very much but I am confident that we will enjoy sharing our experiences when I return. One week after my return from Bolivia, I will be attending Sacramento State University for my Single Subject Teaching Credential in English. It is a one year program that will certify me to teach Secondary School. Someday, I hope to get my Masters in Spanish and therefore, am thrilled to practice my Spanish skills all summer.

Thanks for all your support and prayers during our mission trip! God is good!

Patrick

Hi!

My name is Patrick and I just finished my third year at Cal Poly in mechanical engineering. I am originally from Orange County, where I have lived since third grade. I have two younger brothers, one is in high school, and the other goes to UC San Diego. I enjoy playing tennis and guitar in my free time. I also love being outside whether its work or play. My dad and I have gone on numerous hikes and I did a construction job one summer that was a lot of fun.

I have been a part of the Wesley Fellowship college group for a year, where I first heard about the Bolivia trip. I found out about the Wesley Fellowship through some friends at the house I lived at this year. This is a very new experience for me and I am very excited to have the opportunity to travel to a new place and serve the Lord. Despite all the potential concerns and uncertainties of this trip, I hope that we can effectively show God's love and be committed to doing His will.

Stephanie

Hi I'm Stephanie!

I just finished my first year at Cal Poly, and I am a business major. So far, my concentration is undeclared, but I'm thinking marketing.

Anyways....important things to know about me? Well, I'm super excited for the Bolivia trip! I love baking and cooking, knitting, hiking, exploring, and eating. I spent my early childhood moving around a lot; by the time I was nine, I had already lived in five states. After my family moved to California, however, my family finally settled down and I've lived here for the past 10 or so years. I am from a small little town called Westlake Village, which is about an hour or so (pending traffic) north of Los Angeles. Most people have never heard of it, but that's okay. The next biggest town is Thousand Oaks, but then again, many people haven't heard of Thousand Oaks either. There are two things that Westlake is well known for: the lake and Dole. Westlake is named after a lake: the Westlake Lake. (Very creative, I know). Westlake Lake is in fact a man-made lake, orinally built to lure people to buy homes in the area. And as for Dole, if you have a Dole product lying around your house right now, on the back of the product, it probably says Westlake Village in very small font. Dole has its headquarters in my town; in fact there is a hotel named after it: The Dole Four Seasons Hotel. But that's as about as exciting as Westlake Village gets. I am the second oldest of six kids--yes, you read that right. I love my big family, but I'm excited to spread my wings this summer!

At nineteen, I will be the youngest on the trip. I will also be one of two girls on the trip. (Thank goodness I'm not the only one!)

I've been a member of the United Methodist Church my whole life. From the time I could talk, my mom signed me up for church choir, and then church bells, and anything slightly church related. The church really is just one big family for me. During middle school and high school I participated with my church's youth group. During my high school years, I went on some work trips, but none lasting over a week. Bolivia should be interesting because we'll be working there for 5 or 6 weeks. Regardless, I'm expecting to have a good time.

This will be my first time outside of the United States, so I'm pretty excited, but very nervous at the same time. I took Spanish in high school for all four years, but I'm not sure how much I actually remember.

I feel like I've covered pretty much everything for now. I can't wait to tell you about all of my adventures!

Blessings,
Stephanie

B Ryce

Hey everybody. My name is Bryce Donavon, and I'm one of the crazy 8 that will going to Bolivia for 5 weeks. At the end of the summer I'm going to start my third year at Cuesta Community College. I'm majoring in Business and plan on going into Marketing. I live in Camarillo, CA. I'm 20 years old, I have a brother who's exactly 18 months younger than me, my mom is the District Superintendent of the Methodist churches of the Santa Barbara district (Pastor Jane's boss), and my Dad works for the County of Ventura and just got married at the end of last year.

My favorite things to do are mainly sports. I am very competitive. Competition drives me to get better at whatever I'm competing at, and I love to practice and make myself better. Sometimes I let my competitive attitude get the best of me and I get carried away, but other times competition is how I learn about myself and other people. I love all sports; basketball, volleyball, baseball, football, etc. My favorite form of competition is soccer (the picture gave it away). I think what makes me good at soccer is that I'm a team player. I'm always looking towards and working with my team to be great. That's why I'm so excited to be going to Bolivia with a team, because I know I will be able to work with them and I know they'll be there for me just as I know I will be there for them.

My other hobbies and interests are playing the drums. I just started to learn during my first year of college, and I fell in love with it. I also love the beach. I grew up in Newport Beach from 3rd grade till the beginning of my sophomore year in high school, so I went to the beach a lot or hung out with a bunch of surfers. That's when I knew I just loved the ocean. Anytime I'm out in the ocean, I love it. I love how peaceful and powerful it can be, I love playing, I love swimming, and I just love how amazing it is. I really enjoy surfing, body surfing, kayaking, wake boarding, jet skiing, fishing, etc. I feel that's when I can really feel God's presence is when I'm near the ocean.

A fun fact about me would be that I can juggle. Just a random thing I picked up during high school. I can also make my stomach do the wave. So there's two fun facts in fact.

I became interested in this Bolivia trip because of a few reasons. One is that I love to travel. I don't like monotony very much, so staying in one place is not really my thing. And just seeing new things and putting myself in new situations excites me. I always have fun when I go somewhere new. Two, because somewhere inside me has been telling to go on this trip. I took 4 years of Spanish, I love soccer, I love traveling, I love playing with kids, and I love new experiences. So there are reasons 3,4,5, and 6 as well.

I'm the kind of person who feels confused a lot and I may think I know where I want to go or what to do, but really I just feel more confused than I did before. This summer I really hope to fix that through really understanding what I believe, where I've come from, what I'm doing in life, and how I want to change the world. I don't expect to figure that all out in a few weeks, but I think this trip will definitely get me going towards where I want/need to go. And I really believe it will strengthen me.

Well this is my first blog, and I think I have given you most of what you need/want or maybe even too much of what you wanted to know about me and this trip. I also have trouble getting excited for things, but somehow in the past few days I have been getting really excited. I'm feeling some good vibes about this trip and what's going to happen on it. And I know they're coming from somewhere Good. Until next time.

Bryce

Jonathan

Hi all!

My name is Jonathan Presley and I'll be one of the 8 team members going on this mission to Bolivia. I just finished my third year as a Biochemistry major at Cal Poly literally 12 hours ago! haha. I grew up in a small town called, Madera Ranchos, just outside of Fresno, CA with my mom, dad, and two older brothers. Despite being a science major, I'm very involved in the arts whether it be choir, piano, watercolor, art museums, theater productions, dance performances, or culinary arts! I was a competitive Irish dancer for 10 years and I also enjoy hiking, golf, and volleyball. Oh, and this is a picture of me eating Danish ice cream while I studied abroad in Copenhagen for the fall of '09! SO GOOD!!! Here's my study abroad blog if you're interested: jonjonabroad.blogspot.com

Having been raised a Methodist in the Wesley United Methodist Church in Fresno (you can tell by my love for potlucks), when coming over to San Luis Obispo for college it was only natural to attend SLOUMC. I also lived in the Wesley House, a co-ed Christian based house of 16, for my first two years at college. Over the past three years I have grown more and more attached to the college group, Wesley Fellowship, led by Kristyn and Dave Mitchell, and now they are like my family away from home.

I could not be more excited to serve others in Trinidad this summer! As the departure date nears, I will be cramming Spanish into my brain (I never took a Spanish class), practicing songs and activities to do there, and meditating on my upcoming duties representing Methodist churches all over the world.

Thanks for tuning in!

Jonathan