Over the past three weeks I have met so many wonderful people.
One of the biggest blessings I’ve had so far was meeting Amber and Haley Miller, sisters from Texas who were here for month, a few weeks of which overlapped with my time here.
Amber has been here several times before, Including a long term stay at the very beginning of Casa de Amor.
Over the past few weeks, Amber has been our tour guide/translator/fearless leader in a number of outings.
One such outing was to Cochabamba’s big tourist spots, the Cristo.

Basically, we: Walked, took a bus, walked, took the ‘gondala things’ up to the Cristo, took pictures, watched a rain storm encircle the city of Cochabamba but never make it to us, swing and play on a teater-totter, made friends with a horrible mangy dog, went back down, played in the park we had to pay 2bs to walk through just to get the the ‘gondala things’, walked more, got some delicious icecream, walked, changed our minds about where we were going, took a truffi to the best place for “trancapechos” (see below for explanation) in town, then hopped on a bus back home.
Long day. Lots of walking.
Please enjoy the below photos!

Me and Coch!

Amber, Me and Haley, on the way up...not gonna lie, I was a little scared.

Glad we didn't take the stairs....

The view was awesome!

My poor tired feet....

We really enjoyed the little playground at the top.

We also really enjoyed the playground at the bottom.

....a lot

Each of these was 15bs ($2.14) and it was a TON of ice cream.

And the day ended with Trancapecho's : Bread, fried potato slices, meat, fried egg, rice, more meat, tomatoes onions etc. Very good!

Big Day!

Yesterday was a Big Day, not only a double birthday for two adorable House 2 girls, but also group picture day!
All of the kids from both houses were brought together for a big party! The party entailed, 2 cakes, balloons, and lots of Jello!!

Here are some pictures! Finally!

All (well almost) of the Casa de Amor Kids!

The Triplets!

"here, hold a baby for the picture!"

All the Gringas at the Party!

The Second Week

Hello everyone!
Busy week!

Most of it has been spent at school and then at home studying. I forgot how much I dislike studying! But, school is going well, Slow, But well.

The director of the Spanish school hosted a potluck for all of the students in her home a few nights ago, so here a few pictures from that!

The past few days have been full of time with the kids, seeing the sights of Cochabamba, studying my little heart out, and getting lost (Now the second time in two weeks).

I’m sorry for the lack of posts, I have several planned and Haley, another volunteer has been taking lots of pictures, so as soon as I can steal some from her, I’ll post them here!

Thanks for reading!
With Love

Kaley

Please pray for:

-Of course, Spanish comprehension
-This week I’ll be shadowing Elena, the live-in Tia for Casa de Amor 2, please pray that I pick things up quickly!

Me and my new friend Sereina

New Friends

Be Thankful

Hi everyone!

Just a quick thought,

Whatever you’re doing today, whatever annoyances your facing and grumbling about, whatever troublesome chore you’re putting off,

Please, take a moment, in the midst of your hectic life, and thank God for running water!

-Kaley

La Escuela Español!

Spanish school friends!

Spanish school is wonderful!
This is my first experience taking a class in something that wasn’t mandatory [i.e. highschool!] and I love it! What a different feel when you are learning something that you really want to learn!
So far I’ve had 5 days of school, and already my head is swimming with Spanish.
The school is very flexible and will work around how many hours each student would like a week. For my first week of classes, I took 4 hours a day, for 4 days, and most people I’ve talked to have said, “Wow…That’s a lot!”My second week has just begun and I’m going for 3 hours a day for 5 days a week.
The school is a great place to meet other missionaries and people from around the world who are all trying to learn Spanish. I’ve met wonderful people from Switzerland, Germany, France and all over the United States. It’s very interesting to talk with people about the different work they are doing and planning to do while in Bolivia.
The school has 6 different teachers, all wonderful Christian ladies (One of which is my wonderful Host, Maite!). It’s set up so that you rotate between teachers. So this morning, my first class was mostly about grammar and pronunciation. My second focused on reviewing last weeks Vocab and sentence structure, and the third introduced new information. The classes are one on one, and therefore truly invaluable!

Anyway, just wanted to give you a quick description of Spanish School!
Sorry that it’s been almost a week since I last posted! This week has been spent at Spanish School, seeing more and more of Bolivian culture, and battling an illness that I can only pray is not Pneumonia! So I’ve been pretty busy!
I’ll write more soon!

Please pray:

• That I can beat this stupid sickness that I can’t seem to schake…I would really like to be healthy!
• Please continue to pray for understanding in my Spanish classes, Being sick has made it a little hard at school, I go pretty early in the morning and my head has been a little foggy the past few days. I don’t want to waste this wonderful opportunity to learn, so I really do need to get better!
• Please pray that I will find the spot where I fit perfectly here, in deciding which of the two houses I’ll be working in, and in general.

Thanks everyone for reading and for your prayers!

With love,

Kaley

Public Transportation

Here’s a quick lesson, on Public Transportation a la Cochabamba;

In Cochabamba, there are 3 main types of transportation: Truffi’s, Micros and Taxi’s.

In order to get from my house to School, church or the Casa de Amor houses, I need to know how to get myself around town!

Micros, are small-sized bus’s. You pay when you get on and they make regular stops.

Truffi’s, are smaller, usually Vans, you pay when you get off and can get off wherever you need to by telling the driver “Voy a bajar” or “en la esquina por favor” which translates

This is a picture of a typical "Micro"

to “I will get down” or “on the corner por favor”. These and Micro’s will be my main form of transportation.

Both the Truffi’s and the Micro’s cost 1.50Bolivianos per ride, which equals about $0.22 cents, American, not an expensive way to travel!

There is no form of written schedule for the Truffi’s but all of them have their own route that they will follow. So for me to get to church from my house, I have to walk to the corner of the main road, and wait for a number 230 Truffi, you flag it down, and it will cross lanes and lanes of traffic to pick you up. So then I will ride on that until it gets as close to the church as it gets, and I’ll say my “Voy a bajar, por favor” loud enough for the driver to here, and he will pull to the side for just long enough for you to get out, and wait just long enough for you to pass your 1.50b’s through the window, before pulling back out into traffic. After that, there is generally a fair amount of walking before you actually make it to your final destination, but walking is just expected here in Bolivia! (I do find myself tiring a lot faster here, and I’m blaming it on the altitude!)

So I am in the process of learning the numbers of the Truffi’s that I will use, but once I have that down, I’ll be an expert at getting around town!

On another note, the driving is Crazy here! There are very few rules (atleast very few rules followed!) and pedestrians definitely don’t have the right of way. You will see people sprinting across the road to avoid being hit! However, in the past few days with all of the reckless driving I’ve seen I’ve yet to see any accidents, so I guess they know what they’re doing!

Thanks everyone for keeping up with me on my trip!

Prayer Requests:

• Please continue to prayer that I will not just learn but understand and absorb everything in my Spanish classes.

Gracias!

*Just a little additional note, on the way home from church tonight, there were 21 people in a van this size,

I couldn't find a great picture, I'll take my own and add it sometime!

Busy Busy Busy

Well the past 4 days have been crazy!

I have spent time at both of the “Casa’s de Amor” and thoroughly enjoyed my time at both. I visited, La Concha (not sure if that’s spelled right) which is a HUGE mostly open air market that sells absolutely everything you could ever need! I started Spanish school which I really enjoyed, but will be a LOT of work. I started learning the Cochabamba public transportation system, went to Cochabamba International Church, and I got horribly ill : ( Busy week!!

Thanks for all of you who prayed that I would feel better, I’m happy to report that I am much better now and will be taking it easy on new foods for a while : )

This morning I had my first Spanish classes, and like I said, I really enjoyed them. For my first week I am taking 4 hours of classes a day for 4 days, which is quite a bit, but will allow me to get a good headstart! Also, the lady I’m living with, Maite, is a teacher at the school and will be able to help me study! Definitely a blessing!

So all in all, I have experienced a lot in the past few days, hopefully I can write about them individually as time allows, but right now, it’s time to hit the books!

Thanks for reading!

Kaley

Prayer Requests

• Please pray that I will really be able to absorb the things I am learning at school, so that I can learn quickly and efficiently.
• Please pray that I make a full recovery from this sickness I’ve acquired so that I can make the most of my time this week!

Thanks!

Welcome to Bolivia!

Hola!

Well I have officially arrived in Cochabamba! Five airports and 48 hours after leaving San Diego I am here, safe a sound. All of my luggage arrived with me as well which is an added plus! (Although my suitcase was searched in one airport or another and by the time I opened it, it was quite a mess, but what can you do?)
After a sleepless redeye flight and a four hour time change, I´m going ot need a few days to adjust. I arrived early this morning and spent most of the days touring the two Childrens Homes that I´ll be working at, I already love these kids! Then I came back to my host home and am getting settled in, and unpacked.
I´m so ecxited for the next few days and the next 3 months. I can´t wait to jump in headfirst and make a difference.
I want to thank everyone who contributed to my trip in order to get me here, and everyone who is praying for my safe trip. There is no way I could have made it here so smoothly without all of your prayers!

With love and Thanks,

Kaley

Prayer Request:

• Right now my biggest hurdle is learning Spanish. In order to really get my feet wet and feel comfortable I´ll need to work hard on my Spanish. Please pray that my mind will be opened to what I need to learn, and that it will make sense and click! Preferably quickly!

Thanks!

I Made it to Miami : )

Miami!

I made it through the first leg of the trip with no major problems, (Thanks God!) and am safe and sound in Miami. My flight out of here leaves today at 5:30pm Miami time, (So say a little prayer for me at 2:30pm San Diego time) and it’s just a short flight to Panama City. The next flight is 6 hours, overnight to Santa Cruz, Bolivia so hopefully I’ll be able to sleep!

Thanks for praying, and I’ll post again from Cochabamba!

This map shows my progress. Right now I’m at “C”, in Miami (Click on the picture to see it bigger)

-Kaley

P.S. More specifically, I’d love prayer for:

-My connecting flight in Panama City, I know very little about that airport (or Panama) and I’m a little anxious about it
-My connecting flight in Santa Cruz (same as above)
-Communication in the foreign airports, especially when going through customs and immigration.

Thanks!

Here I go...!

Well I’m all packed up and headed to the airport!

Please pray for my safety and a smooth trip!

Thanks!

-Kaley

I'm going to Bolivia!

October 3, 2010 · Filed under The Mission, Uncategorized · Edit

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my Blog! so in 2.5 days, I’m getting on a plane to Cochabamba Bolivia,

It seems like this trip has come together so fast, and I can hardly believe that on Tuesday morning I’ll be on my way! For my first post, I thought I’d give you a little info on where I’m going, so enjoy this info from the Casa De Amor website, and I’ll post again soon!

Thanks for your love and prayers!

Kaley

Over 20,000 children in Bolivia call the streets or one of many crowded institutions “home”, with an estimated 6,000 in Cochabamba. Several factors contribute to the problem, including abject poverty (70% of the population), lack of basic medical care, and the breakdown of the family unit. The need is great!

Our children generally come to Casa de Amor one of two ways:

• A referral from the government of Bolivia
  A child who is abandoned, removed from an abusive situation, or orphaned
• A referral from another ministry
  We are one of only a few homes in Cochabamba equipped to care for babies, compared to literally dozens for older children

Whenever possible, our desire is to provide the support necessary to keep families together.
Casa de Amor, “House of Love”

Casa de Amor I
In operation since December 2004, we are blessed to work from a large sunny home in Cochabamba. Usually Casa de Amor’s Baby Home shelters between 16 to 20 beautiful, active babies and toddlers: boys and girls ages newborn to 3 years of age.

Casa de Amor II
God has blessed us with another large home in Cochabamba from which to care for the children He brings us. Casa de Amor II opened its doors on July 4, 2006, and is home for approximately one dozen children ages 3 to 12 (average age of 5), including several sibling groups.

Our Hands
The Lord has truly blessed Casa de Amor from the very beginning in the area of staff and volunteers. He has brought us a loving team with much experience and a deep desire to reach out to these children.

Our Vision
“Turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers (Malachi 4:6).”