Visitors to Sucre

One of the blessings of working in Bolivia is the opportunity to host missions’ teams or visitors from the US.  FH Sucre doesn’t receive a bunch of international teams but we seem to have groups come every 2 or 3 months on average.  This past week we had the privilege of hosting 4 special visitors to Sucre for 3 days. 

Through the Food for the Hungry artist program professional singer/song writer Kerrie Roberts came to Sucre to visit and share her vocal talents and wisdom.  Kerrie shared at several venues her passion for music and desire to honor God with the talents and gifts she has been given.   FH also scheduled multiple opportunities for Kerrie and her team to see and experience the ministry of FH and learn about our desire to transform realities and raise up a new generation of leaders focused on honoring God in every area of society. 

Kerrie and her team came with a huge heart to serve and it was a privilege to see the youth of Bolivia excited to develop their talents and use them for the glory of God.  We hosted a question and answer session one evening, where Kerrie shared her testimony and the youth asked questions about worship leading etc.  Seeing the youth’s desire to grow in their abilities to lead worship, and mature in there understanding of God centered worship was an encouragement to us.  I believe Kerrie was able to give great advice that will shape a generation of worship leaders in Sucre. 

I (John) as her translator enjoyed getting to meet Kerrie and her team, and was blessed by our conversations and ministry activities.  As always it was wonderful to make some new friends and spend some time learning and growing from their experiences.   I think Kerrie will be touring with Big Daddy Weave this spring or summer.  If she is near your location you should check it out.  She is a very talented artist who loves the Lord!

Kerrie sharing with kids about music and singing

Home visit

The team.  (Ben - photographer, Jenni - Kerrie's manager, Crystal - FH employee,
Kerrie, John and Jennie)

Ella and John with Kerrie

Minnesota...and finally snow!

We spent the last week of our furlough in Minneapolis with my brother and his family.  We had a wonderful time with them, and enjoyed all the fun things they had planned for us to do.  Probably the most special part of our visit was getting to know our new nephew/cousin Colton Ray.  He is the cutest laid-back baby you could imagine with the most kissable cheeks!  Dan and Kate were wonderful hosts and absolutely spoiled us with fun trips to the Mall of America, Eagles Nest, fun lunches out, a date night for John and I, and bowling!  We also had time to just relax and hang-out too which was great.  Thanks for everything Dan and Kate!

There was snow!  Ella finally got to use her new snow gear!

Uncle Dan got to use his snow gear too!

Ella's first snow angel.  

Colton and Lydia did great as we went from place to place.

The big slide at Eagle Nest, an indoor kids park.

Ella and Uncle Dan at the Mall of America  Aquarium

We rode rides at the Mall of America for most of the day.

Ella's first time bowling.  

Hangin' Out

Another Plane Ride...Another Destination. South Dakota!

December 9th found us at the airport again.  The girls are getting used to airports by now and enjoy roaming around and watching the planes.  We left balmy Phoenix and flew into Omaha, Nebraska and then made the trek up to Yankton, South Dakota by car.  

We had been preparing Ella for the cold weather in South Dakota, and had promised sledding, snow angels, snowmen building, and snowball fights.  But instead, we found NO SNOW and weather that was sometimes in the 50's!  Can't believe that after three Christmas living away where there is no snow, we return to the South Dakota tundra for a snowless Christmas.  Nevertheless, just being with family was enough to get us in the Christmas spirit and we had a wonderful time.  We had the opportunity to see many of my (Jennie's) extended family and the girls got a lot of Grandpa and Grandma time.  John was also given the opportunity to do his Mission's Seminar at Calvary Baptist, one of our supporting churches. 

Below are some picture highlights of our 3 weeks in South Dakota.  

Lot's of playtime with Grandpa and Grandma

Staying warm!  (We did have a few cold days...)

The piano...one of the best toys at Grandma's house!

Christmas celebration at the Barr's house in Sioux Falls.  The girls had a great time with Great Aunt Amy and her kids.

The Bows!  A highlight for Lydia.

Golfing on Christmas Day in South Dakota!

Ella fell in love with Jeff, the neighborhood cat.

Meeting our new cousin Colton for the first time!

Playing at the Children's Museum in Brookings.  (Highly recommended!  Great place!)

Learning to play the Wii.  Ella was a pro by the end of our trip.

Being with family...it doesn't get much better.

Albuquerque!

While we were staying in Phoenix, we took a weekend trip over to New Mexico to visit Mountain Christian Church (MCC), in the East Mountains of Albuquerque.  We had never been to Albuquerque before and had no idea how beautiful this city, surrounded by mountains was....or how much it reminded us of the mountains of Bolivia.  


MCC has a special place in our hearts, as we have been a part of receiving short term teams from this church here in Bolivia several times.  Over the past two years we have gotten to know many people from this congregation.  So even though we have never visited Albuquerque or MCC before, it still felt like visiting some place warm and familiar.  


We were able to visit with many past team members, and John also did a Saturday morning seminar, teaching on several topics, including worldview, poverty, and resources.  We had an amazing time, and also enjoyed our first "glimpse" of snow during our furlough home.  Actually we were apart of a "winter storm" but stayed warm and cozy with Marvin and Barb Proctor, who hosted us in their home, while we watched several inches of snow accumulate.  


Thank you MCC for inviting us to come and share with you all, and for loving on us while we were with you!

Phoenix

We are amazed at how fast the weeks are clipping by.  As I sit to blog about our time in Phoenix, we are already hundreds of miles and states away!  We had a wonderful time visiting John's parents, John and Roseann and enjoying the beautiful Arizona weather.  Since Food for the Hungry's headquarters is also in Phoenix, we were able to have several meetings with various people.  It was nice to meet face to face with individuals that we had only knew via e-mail and skype up until this trip.

Some of the highlights:

• Visiting the Wildlife Center
• Trip to the Grand Canyon
• Phoenix Children's museum
• Thanksgiving
• Celebrating Christmas in November
• John leading chapel at the Food for the Hungry office

Ella and a Grand Canyon Ranger

Enjoying the Canyon at Sunset

The girls have more pictures of our trip to Phoenix over on their blog.

Good-bye Cincinnati!

It's hard to believe that our time in Cincinnati is already over!  We had a wonderful time sharing with supporters, spending time with friends and family, and presenting our ministry with various groups.  Here is a list of all we did while we were there:

• Met with the Missions Board of Hope Church
• Participated in the Hope Church weekly Staff meeting
• Were able to be apart of our Community's Oct event
• Shared with the Empty Nester's Community, Journey Community and the Kid's Ministry
• One on One Meetings with 10 different supporters
• Lots of time with friends and family

Our church community welcomed us back with open arms and it was so wonderful to see so many familiar faces again.    

Sharing with the preschool class at Hope Church.  They raised over $1000 for a church in Bolivia this summer.

Sharing with the grade schoolers at Hope Church.

Demonstrating how the Bolivians carry just about anything on their backs using Aguayo Blankets.

Family Fall Fun Day!

We have been staying busy in Cincinnati visiting with supporters and speaking at churches.  The weather has been beautiful and we were able to spend a nice day together as a family at one of our favorite places.  We have been going to Iron's Fruit Farm every fall since before Ella was born in 2007.  (Except for when we have been living in Bolivia!)  It was great to go back, see the animals and pick out some apples and apple cider donuts!  We had a wonderful day, enjoyed the weather and made new family memories.  

Ella - 2007, 5 months

Ella - 2008, 17 months

Family of three 2008