We had a great morning today; the weather was sunny and quite warm, and no rain. Alex is one of the men taking us to Mizque, he had an emergency he needed to attend to so we were delayed in leaving this morning. It was ok because it gave us an opportunity to walk around down town Cochabamba and we tried to locate a few items that we needed before leaving for Mizque. The city was quite busy and it was interesting to see the many different stores and vehicles. We exchanged some of our money over to boliviano, and prepared to leave around noon. Just outside the city, we ate lunch at a road side restaurant called Las Carmelitas. There we all ate Empanadas which are like a panzarotti filled with cheese, and then headed toward the mountains. At the base of the mountain the temperature was 21 and we spent the next 1 ½ hours heading up on roads that were very dangerous looking. If you ever watched the Ice Road Truckers show- Most Dangerous Roads, this is what the road up the mountain resembled (in places) . The road was mostly cobble stone, and must of taken years to build. We reached the summit at some 10,000+ feet and the temperature had dropped down to 7 degrees. We stopped along the way and had taken some pictures, but they definitely did not do justice to the beauty, height, and steepness of the scenery we saw.
We then made our way down the other side of the mountain and to the town of Mizque, which is quite a nice town. It is not what you would see at home anywhere, it is set in the valley and we have mountains all around. We are staying in a very comfortable place for the next week and we begin work a 20 minute drive outside of the town about tomorrow. Everyone is still healthy and the group is getting along very well, please continue to pray for us. We had a good team meeting, time of worship, scripture and sharing tonight after a long day.
Tuesday January 22 & Wednesday January 23
We began work today on two different houses just outside the town of Mizque. They are very small homes with two rooms each, both with dirt floors and adobe brick (straw and mud). House number one has 6 children and two adults that live in it, and house number two has 8 children and two parents. Both families are some of the poorest of the area. Most house in this area outside town are made of the same material and about the same size 10x15’. The second house is the one which I have been working at the most with and for 20 years have been living in a house 6’x10’ with three walls, tin roof, and the front wall filled in with sticks. They are only able to grow enough food to survive on because of the small piece of land that they own. While we are there the Father and at least 5 of the children work with us constantly nonstop. Yesterday (Wed) a young man came to work with us who us to live with the family but had moved away to work to help support the family.
Our day consist of breakfast at 7:30, then off to the two different houses to work until 12:30. We then head back into Mizque for lunch all together, then back out to work until 5:00-5:30. We then have our supper around 6:30 and our team meetings at 8:30 or 9:00, usually for about an hour. The temperature the last couple of days has been a little different than yours at about 27-28 degrees Celsius. The sun here is much hotter than home, with a couple of the team being subject to burning rather quickly. It is there summer, however also it is rainy season. We have been blessed so far that it has only rained in the night, however it saddens our hearts because the two houses we are fixing the families are sleeping outside. Last night (wed) we were told that things are progressing very quickly and hopefully finish the walls today (Thurs) and start pouring concrete for a floor later today or tomorrow. This will help us finish up on Saturday, stay here on Sunday for church then head back on Monday for Cochabamba. Please continue to pray for the team, everyone is healthy so far, but pray that we will be able to finish the two houses and represent Christ to them.
new house
