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