Congrats Class of 2011!

Last week, we celebrated together with Carachipampa's graduating class of 2011!  Although there were only seven students in the senior class this year, we will miss them terribly!  They were a great group of kids! 

Chris speaking during graduation.

Chris' photo even made it on one of the graduation cakes, lol!!  On the left of Chris is another teacher/mentor, on the right is the school director.  I think all the students were pretty excited to get a piece of their teachers!  

Happy start of summer to you all! 

Surprise!

I had a wonderful birthday Thursday and so Friday I was caught off guard when I walked into our dark apartment and was bombarded by "SURPRISE!!!!" followed by lots of confetti and balloons! Here are a few shots from our fun evening.

Olivia trying out the princess party hat.

Our Bolivian friends slaved away all afternoon making "Pique Macho" a favorite Bolivian dish.

"Pique Macho" consists of potato fries, beef, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, onions, hot peppers in which you lather it all in ketchup along with mustard and mayonnaise if you're Bolivian ;)

One of my best friends Michell and I showing our big plates of Pique.

Pinata in the dark!

Olivia loved playing with the 1,000+ little confetti balls that were scattered through the entire apartment! Thankfully everyone helped clean up before they left :)

My awesome brother-in-law Spencer, blew up over 100 balloons, they literally covered the entire living room floor and then some. We decided to play pictionary on the balloons by guessing whose face was on the balloon.

Some of the drawings were pretty comical!

Olivia has loved having Uncle Spencer here for a visit. She refers to him as "Nana" :)

After the party we weren't sure what to do with all the balloons so we decided to sneak them all into our friend's apartment while they were out.

Olivia of course had to help as well!

Their kitchen was covered in balloons. Late that night when they got home we could hear them popping balloons until 11:30pm. We're pretty sure they decided to start popping them so late to get back at us ;)

And this is how Olivia fell asleep that night. She was completely exhausted... can you tell?

Not a brain tumor PTL!

Praise the Lord, Chris' student, Josiah, has had a complete turnaround! The mass in his brain was not a tumor but rather an abscess.

Here's an update from our mission director on his current condition:

• Josiah is out of ICU and is recovering well – the doctors are happy with his progress
• An abscess on his brain containing 20ml of pus was drained on Thursday night last week.
• He is talking and eating again and regaining his strength.
• While there is still a road to walk – all the initial signs are good – he has feeling in his limbs, great hand to eye coordination and fortunately has not lost his dry sense of humour!
• Please continue to pray for his complete recovery

Update on Chris' student.

Sunday we went to visit this student of Chris' in the hospital (no name for his privacy) and it was a difficult time for all. He wasn't able to get an MRI done on Sunday because there is apparently only one doctor who could give the MRI and he was no where to be found. Chris' student ended up having to wait until last night at about 6pm to get the MRI.

The result: It's not a brain tumor, but rather a HUGE mass. The family must pack up quickly and leave for the states in order to have the mass surgically removed. Please pray for wisdom on the doctors part and a quick recovery. Also please pray for this family. They are very close to each other and this is obviously very hard for them.

Chris' student said something I thought was pretty remarkable, "If all of this draws the students in my class to God even the slightest bit it will make it all worth it". Wow what a statement! He said this because this year was pretty tough and his class has really been struggling spiritually. He's been a spiritual leader in his class despite a lot of criticism.

Please, please pray for this family and the new challenges they are about to face.

Urgent: Prayer Needed!

Please pray for one of Chris' 11th grade students who has had severe migraines and has been vomiting for 3 days straight. He was taken to the ER yesterday and the doctors think he may have a brain tumor. His family has had many trials since they have been here in Bolivia (they came the same time as us last July) and it is clearly obvious that the devil is trying to get a stronghold on their family. They all love the Lord and their children have been a shining light at the school this year. Please lift this family up in prayer! Chris is about to head over to the hospital now. Pray that the prognosis won't be as serious as the doctors have presumed.