Burrrrrrrrr......

As many of you know, we are in the middle of winter down here in the Southern Hemisphere.  Typically that means when the sun is down, it can get down into the 50's, maybe high 40's on a cool night.  During the day when the sun is out it can still get up into the high 60's, low 70's.  For this reason, homes are not built with any kind of heating system. 

You may have also heard on the news that South America has been suffering from an unusual cold spell.    Bolivia experienced this in full force two weekends ago.  For three days temps dipped down into the high 20's and with heavy cloud cover.  I'm not sure we got out of the 30's during the days.  When you are living in a home with no heat, it doesn't take long for it to get pretty chilly.  We pretty much lived under blankets and with hats and gloves on for several days.  On Saturday morning, we made a big bed of blankets on our living room floor and had a Toy Story Marathon.  (yes - Toy Story 3 is out on DVD here in Bolivia already...sort of!)    

We were definitely counting our blessings when our landlord arranged for a gas heater to be installed in our apartment on Sat. afternoon.  

While we were cold for several days, we couldn't imagine how many people in Bolivia were managing the cold, living in homes made with mud walls.  During that cold weekend, 46 people in Sucre died from hypothermia or carbon monoxide poisoning trying to keep warm.  I'm sure there are similar stories like this all around South America.  Please take a moment to pray for these families that have lost loved ones and that are still fighting to stay warm in this unusually cold season.