Little Weigner

Sorry it has been so long since out last post, there is a lot to catch up on. Today our baby had its second photo shoot, this time in 3-D! The baby was rather stuborn for a while (already taking after one of its parents), turning every way but the way we wanted it to, but eventually the baby turned and we got a few good shots. It was a lot of fun to see it moving around. Still hard to believe there is a little person growing inside Jenna. The baby still apears to be healthy and growing normally. We are very thankful that everything has been going so well. We also found out that we are going to have a... oh sorry, I almost forgot, we're not telling yet but if you care to guess, visit http://bebepool.com/jjweigner and take your best shot.

The finished coop with chickens

We finally have the chicken coop finished in Poza Verde (well, we have a few last little details to finish). I am excited the my rainwater, gravity fed watering system is working! Rainwater off the roof of the coop runs into a holding tank then in to water dishes that refill as the chickens drink. There are now 135 chickens enjoying their new home and they will enjoy it for a few more weeks before they become 135 Christmas dinners. All profits go to help the couple living out there and their ministry.

Cesar cleaning up after his chickens

On one of the trips back from Poza Verde, I was introduced to a new part of life in Bolivia, bloqueos or blockades. Some of the people in the country were feeling ignored by the government so the desided to hang out in the middle of the only highway back to Santa Cruz. They made a baracade of old tires and tree branches. Apparently this is how people strike here. It was not in any way violent (for those of your parents who may be concerned) and it eventually dispersed and we were able to make our way back home.

We have our own car now, a Hyundai Galloper. Never heard of it? Well that is because it does not really exist in the USA. We have been enjoying using an SUV for what it was made for, and that is not exactly cruzing down highways! The 4x4 has been handy lately as the rains have started and the roads around our house have been torn up for new sewage lines. Getting to and from our house has been interesting since each day we have no idea which road is going to be impassable. Last night we drove all over our neighborhood trying to find a route back to our house that did not have a large trench dug out of the middle. Always an adventure!

Jenna's Thanksgiving Pies

SAM Thanksgiving Dinner

We will be moving out of Santa Cruz between Christmas and New Years. This will be the thrid year in a row we will have moved during the holiday season. We decided to move out near a town call Pailon which is closer to Poza Verde, the comunity we spend most of our time working with. We found a wonderful house owned by some other missionaries from another organization.

With Christmas coming up, I'm sure some of you will be doing your shopping online. If you are an online shopper, consider shopping through www.iGive.com. By going through this site, a percentage of your purchase will go toward our ministry. All you have to do is go to iGive.com, sign up for an account and specify South America Mission IRE Mercy Ministry as your charity, then shop your favorite sites like Amazon or Ebay though this site and any business you buy from will give a percentage to our ministry. Get your shopping done and help us out at the same time!

Night in Poza Verde

Working on the chicken coup with Cesar

This past Thursday and Friday we spent out in the Poza Verde Ayore community, about 1.5 to 2 hours from where we are currently living. This is the community we will probably spend the most time with. We spent the night with Cesar and Mirtha, a Bolivian couple who live with and minister to the Ayore. We had a great time getting to know them, although speaking only in Spanish for the whole time was tiring but good practice. I helped Cesar work on the chicken coup he is building to house 100 chickens. The goal of this project is for them to make a little income from the eggs since they do not get very much support to live off of. We will probably spend a lot of time doing whatever we can to help them so the can be more effective in their ministry since they have many more years of experience than we.

Our ministry team now has a website! Follow this link to learn more about our ministry with the Ayore: http://ayorebolivia.wordpress.com/

Meet Simon

Here is our new little buddy Simon. We got him last weekend. He is half Lab half German Shepherd and is growing and learning fast. At 8 weeks he already has "stay" and "come" down and is housebroken. We are hoping that one day he will make a good guard dog.

A look at our life overseas

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sunflower Harvest

This past weekend I spent out in Poza Verde, one of the Ayore settlements. The mission cultivates a field out there. In order to keep the land, a certain percentage has to be productive. Sunflowers were the crop of choice this round and were ready to harvest. We hired a group to harvest the field and we got 25 tons of seeds. Now we are praying the global price of sunflower seed will go up in the next few weeks.
The money made will go to the ministry with the Ayore. This has been a successful way to meet the productivity laws, but is dependent on the mission. Ideally we would like to come up with agricultural projects that the Ayore can sustain on their own. This will be one of the main goals of my work.

Ayore kids playing in the sunflower field

Hired harvesters
Ayore kids playing in the harvested seed

Mission Impossible: Bolivia

The next two years of our lives packed into 4 check bags and 2 carry-ons

Two years of preparation and now we are finally here in Bolivia, but it almost did not happen. At the end of our two weeks in the states, after a great last few days with family, we visited the SAM office where our passports and visas were supposed to meet us. Thanks to a series of delays, the passports did not make it to South Carolina in time. So we tried re-routing them to Baltimore to meet us at a friends house the day we were to leave.

Eating Breakfast on the sidewalk in Baltimore, waiting for UPS to deliver our passports.

Over breakfast, we got the call that our passports were still in South Carolina

Turns out our passports got stuck in South Carolina. We tried delaying our tickets a day or two only to find out the next flight with open seats was not until Sept. 22nd.

A couple long hours at the airport trying to come up with a new plan

Lunch at Natcho Mama's while waiting for Sue to fly in with our passports

Back at the airport waiting for the passports to arrive

In one last ditch effort, Sue, from our office, intercepted the package at the UPS warehouse in South Carolina, hopped on the next flight to Baltimore, handed the package off to our friend Matt who was waiting to run it to us at the American Air desk. He delivered it to us just in time to check in, with 10 minutes to spare! Once we were on the plane, the rest of the trip was smooth. We were so focused on just getting on the plane that it was not until I was in my seat buckling in that it hit me, WE'RE MOVING TO BOLIVIA!

Agent Matteo running 'the package" (our passports) through the airport

So now we are adjusting to life here. So far we really like it. Basically we've been spending our time in meetings, getting to know the people we'll be working with, and getting oriented to the area. We did take one trip out to Poza Verde, one of the villages I'll be spending a lot of my time. They have a large crop of sunflowers that our team has been helping them grow and will probably we ready for harvest this week. I have been brainstorming with the team on lots of interesting potential projects. It is exciting to see how many opportunities there are here to use my interests and training.

Changing Seasons

Today marks yet another point of change for us. Since 2001 I have been hopping from town to town, state to state, and country to country. It has been quite the adventure but the frequent packing up to go and all the "good-byes" have been challenging. Today we graduated from language school and are getting ready to head back to the states for a whirlwind 2 week trip before moving to Bolivia. We said our farewells yet again and are looking forward to actually setting up home and staying in one place for at least 2 years. Over the last 8 years or so, I've made a lot of friend around the world then had to leave them behind. At first it was really hard, then I hit a point of trying to stay uninvolved emotionally to avoid the pain of leaving, but now I have found it is worth the effort and investment to enjoy relationships while they last, even if I know they will be for only a short while. And so, I leave Costa Rica with more fond memories of friends I have made to add to the many other amazing people I have met on the journey, and looking forward to new friends and new adventures that lay ahead.

Since we have not posted in a little while, here is a quick recap of our last month here in Costa Rica. Jenna's parents came down to visit us and we had a great time back at Arenal Volcano and showing them around the San Jose area. Unfortunately it was cloudy most of the time so we only heard the volcano. The teachers and some of the students at ILE put on a great show of whirly-twirly cultural dances to celebrate the Anexion of Guanacaste. We took our final Spanish exams; Jenna did great, I choked. Then last weekend we took an amazing boat ride to Tortuguero National Park filled with all kinds of wildlife. I wish I had discovered this place sooner! We saw crocs, sloths, monkeys, toucans, an Eyelash viper, and a Green Sea Turtle laying eggs.

It has been a great 8 months. I am sad to leave Costa Rica and our friends here, but I can't say I'm sorry to be done with school. Onward to Bolivia!