kristentorrestoro - Here at the Edge of the World

Hey, Friends!

I'm writing the first draft of this blog while on the plane from Bolivia to Miami, and I just don't know how to summarize the time I spent there. It was incredible!

Here's a play-by-play of what we did:

-Flew into Bolivia at 8am Tuesday morning . It was a full day of airports, delayed flights, hunger, turbulence, and an overnight flight--so little sleep!

-Our contact, David Salazar, picked us up, took us to breakfast, and then we drove to Monte Blanco, a conference center in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Monte Blanco, in English, means "White Mountain". Close to the center is exactly that--a white mountain. And yes, before you even ask, we did climb it--with the campers. But I'm getting ahead of myself! :0)

(The view from above... photo by Kristen Torres-Toro)

-In order to get there, we had to drive on what used to be the World's Deadliest Road--5 hours of winding throughout the Andes, with a mountain to one side and a breathtaking view (interpretation--a sheer drop!) to the other. Now the road is paved and there are some guardrails... though crosses still line the road where people recently went over the edge, and the threat of mudslides still exists.

(First 2 pics from the window, photos by Kristen Torres-Toro. Final pic by Connie Rock when we stopped to take in the view on the way back into the city).

- We spent two days at Monte Blanco, which used to be called Tambo and was
a boarding school for MKs (missionary kids). My friend and Ambassador Program Coordinator, Connie, lived in Bolivia for 13 years and went to this school. So it was doubly awesome--to be able to hear her memories and see not only how God used Tambo/MonteBlanco then, but how He's using it now.

Monte Blanco has a camp ministry. They bring kids from the city of Santa Cruz and spend 3 days pouring into them through recreational activities and the Gospel. It is so cool! And it was so neat to see the ministry in action. We were not only able to interact with the kids and the staff, but we became friends with them. At first I was intimidated because of my lack of fluency, but that didn't matter--and I began to speak in Spanish! Un poquito... a little! Some of my favorite moments from the week are from things we did with the camp and the staff--like the worship service under the stars on the pisto (runway... airstrip) and climbing Monte Blanco. It was incredible to see the Church in action--and take part of it as well!

(Worship service under the stars... photo by Kristen Torres-Toro)

(The view from the top of Monte Blanco... by Kristen Torres-Toro).

(Me...and Don and Connie Rock at the top of Monte Blanco).

(Photo by Connie Rock)

Monte Blanco is so beautiful. It's really high up--5000 feet?--so I had to get used to the altitude. Though weather reports threatened cold and rain, we had sunny skies almost the entire time- which made for great pictures! :0)

Here are a few more pics from Monte Blanco... Enjoy!