Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness!!!

You will not BELIEVE what just happened, unless you are one of the MANY people who was in on the secret and kept it so well.

On Sunday night, the doorbell rang, and Carlos went to go get it. He came back inside and told me that there were some guys outside who wanted to talk to me. I confess I was feeling rather exhausted and cranky, and didn't really want to go outside because I was cooking some grilled cheese sandwiches, but I went. And GUESS WHO IT WAS????

Alex and Nathan!!!!! They had come down to Peru to travel with Matt, and then came here to Bolivia, and had managed to keep the whole thing a secret from me!! Shirley and Carlos and Jeremy knew, and had known for months, but apparently I am totally oblivious. And then, the next morning, who should walk in but Dan Fryer!!! And later that night, we were joined by Brandon, who had taken a detour to the Island of the Sun but finally made it to La Paz.

I was SO shocked, and happy! I feel like I'm living in a dream, except I couldn't have imagined anything this fun happening!! Some of my favourite people in the whole world, coming sneakily down to visit me!!

Here are some photos of the boys around the house, and also of us at a big "clasico" soccer game last night. If it looks like I am the happiest girl in the world, it's because I AM!!

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Retreat Center at Last!

Very good news!

Shirley and Carlos have completed the purchase of the new property, have the keys, and all is well! You can tell from the pictures what a nice place it will be to have retreats in. When Matt saw it, he said, "This would be a great place for hammocks!" And they discovered just last week that there are already hooks in place for that wonderful activity.

It is located in Valencia, a small town about 30 minutes away from Jeremy's school. The altitude is actually much lower than other parts of La Paz, certainly lower than here in Llojeta! That accounts for why everything looks so lush and green - palm trees, giant aloe vera plant, flat lawn perfect for croquet...they have it all.

Shirley and Carlos will be working at getting the place ready over the summer, and then moving in sometime before Jer starts school in August. So, I won't get to live there...but hopefully I will come back and visit, when it's up an running as a retreat center!

NEED HELP: I'm facing a 15-hour layover in the Miami airport on my way back home - can you people help me come up with suggestions for what I should do to pass the time?? I shall try to sleep a bit, but I won't have many books for my awake times...I was thinking audio books on my iPod, but I'm not sure how long a battery lasts in an iPod... Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated!!

24 days until I leave...

Love to all,
Rachael

This Is How We Roll

Greetings, everyone!

Today's video: a surprise morning sneak-attack serenade, for Jimena's birthday! It is the tradition for the people from our church to get up really early and serenade the birthday person (notice Jimena inside, just waking up!) and then go inside for a birthday breakfast. Notice also Matt, who doesn't know the words to the song, but is doing a good job of faking it.

I recently attended a Toma de Nombre ceremony, also for Jimena. It's part of the graduation celebrations in a Bolivian school - the grad class chooses a spokesperson or sponsor to represent their class, and they choose a theme for their year. Since Bolivian schools finish in December, they still have half a year to go, but this is part of how they graduate. It was really fun! Jimena definitely had the most international group of supporters - Andreia from Brazil, me from Canada, and Bianca from Germany!

On the tutoring front, things are going very well with Elisa. We just finished her math module for the year, about a month ahead of schedule! To celebrate, we devised the following celebration: we extended our "reading out loud" part of the day to a whole hour, and made it into a game. I brought a bunch of gummy bears, and we divided them into two bowls. Anytime Elisa skipped a word, I took and ate one of her bears. Anytime she pronounced a hard word perfectly, she took and ate one of mine. Needless to say, by the end of our hour, I had practically no bears left, and her bowl was full to overflowing.

Prayer request: please please PLEASE pray that I can figure out how to get rid of the bugs in my bed. Every night I wake up itching and it is driving me crazy. Multiple sheet-washings and vacuumings and mattress-in-the-sun sessions are not seeming to help.

Love to everyone!!
Rachael

The Big Decision

Greetings, friends, family, and everyone else.

So, just thought I'd give everyone the heads-up on the decisions I've been making lately. The big question: should I stay down in Bolivia for a third year, or go back to Canada to stay?

I have been thinking and praying about it for the last few months, and so have Shirley and Carlos. And a couple weeks ago we met to talk about what we have been thinking and hearing. The general consensus seems to be that my time here is finished. The Vargases will be moving out of this neighbourhood soon, and that will effectively curtail my involvement here with the youth group, the worship team, my English class, my guitar lessons, etc. Also, I don't work much with Jeremy anymore, and things just feel like they're at a good place to finish up.

However, now that I have made this decision, I'm beginning to realize how much I love Bolivia, and how sad I'm going to be to leave. Mostly because of my friends here, and because it will be sad to not live with the Vargas family anymore. If you could pray that I can deal well with the transition, that would be appreciated.

Here's a picture of me looking out over La Paz, a city that will always be close to my heart.

Love to everyone,
Rachael