Hey everyone! This is Heidi! ( I don't have my own computer here or blog account so I am using Stephanie's :P) Here are my journal entries from Sunday and yesterday.  I hope you get a little glimpse of what our time here has been like!

June 16 (Sunday)

This morning to go to church, the girls all dressed up in long skirts and dresses and Kirk (who is now the only boy in the house) wore a collared shirt. We drove about an hour into Cochabamba and went to a Presbyterian church that is on the second story of a tall building. The church was very small and there were about 20 locals in the service.  First, we sang several hymns in Spanish. These hymns were familiar to us in English such as Holy, Holy, Holy, and Fount of Every Blessing, however the Spanish versions were not.  I followed along the best that I could, but the pronunciation was difficult.  Next, we sang 2 modern songs that I was unfamiliar with. After the music, the pastor preached on Ephesians 2. Although I did not understand most of the Spanish, I was able to understand the gist of the sermon and Elizabeth filled me in in the details after the service.  We concluded the service with another Spanish hymn. After the service, several women set out banana bread, tuna sandwiches, and drinks for the congregation.  We did not have time to enjoy them however, because we had made reservations at a Chinese restaurant close by. 

After a 15 minute walk, we arrived at the restaurant and the food was already on the table waiting for us. We ate chow mein, fried rice, breaded chicken, and French fries which were all very good. Afterward, Necko took us to a food court in a movie theater and bought us all chocolate or white chocolate covered ice cream cones which were fabulous! 

Next, we returned back to the house and Stephanie, Elizabeth, and I moved into the room that Nicki had been staying in (because the 3 girls in that room were able to take Lydia, Anna, and Alison's room).  We are really excited about this because the four of us can finally stay together! 

Because today is Sunday, we each had to cook our own dinners so Elizabeth, Stephanie, Nicki and I made quesadillas/burritos with cheese, onion, bell peppers, and hamburger meat. After dinner, Jeniece, Stephanie, Kirk, Nicki, and I played Banana Grams and Ultimate Uno.  

June 17 (Monday)- Kirk's birthday!!

This morning, we all went to rounds but there were many fewer patients than on prior days.  Again, I did not understand much of what was going on because the interns and doctors speak Spanish very quickly and also all of the interns are from Brazil, so they pronounce words differently.  Then we went back to the house, had breakfast, and decided who was going to shadow which doctor. Stephanie and I have been really wanting to see a surgery so we signed up for surgery.  Unfortunately, when the surgeon came to his office, he said that there are no surgeries happening today but there is one tomorrow, so Stephanie and I plan to go to that one (he did not tell us what kind of surgery it will be though).  Because we could not do anything with the surgeon, Stephanie went to PT and I went to gynecology with Rachel and Elizabeth.  The doctor was very kind and allowed us to assist her with her patients by getting them set up on the table and handing her various things.  One of her patients is 23 weeks pregnant and is experiencing side pain, so the doctor explained that the pain resulted from the placenta moving around so it is nothing to worry about and the pregnancy is going well. The doctor examined her anyway just to make sure, so she used a device to check for the baby's heart beat.  For the first minute or so, I did not hear anything and I was afraid that the baby had died or something, but then we heard a very fast heartbeat (170 beats per minute).  I had never experienced that before and I was awestruck.  God has designed the human body so wonderfully, and I am constantly being reminded of that during my time here. Once this patient's  appointment had ended and the doctor had seen all of her patients, Elizabeth and I returned to the house. 

Because lunch was not going to be ready for another half hour, Phoebe, Elizabeth, Rachel, Hannah, Allie, and Gina and I took a short walk to another mansion built by the tin miner, Mr. Patino.  Right when we got back to the house, Rose rang the bell signaling that lunch was ready.  Today she made us a potato, quinoa, fava bean, and pea soup.  Earlier this morning, she and her mother, Alba, had been frying puff pastries and dusting them with powdered sugar to serve at the cafe in the hospital.  When I asked Rose what they were, she said that they would make some to give to us later.  Sure enough, after lunch, Alba served them to us.  They were delicious!! Then, Nicki, Stephanie, and I took showers which felt heavenly.  The girls only shower every other day or once every three days to save water (the boys all take long showers every day though :P ) and I had not figured out how to make the water warm until today, so showering felt especially good!

At 2:30, we all piled into our driver, Manuel's, troophe and drove to La Concha which is a huge market place to buy souvenirs.  We were all super excited to shop for various things and we spent the whole time in one aisle of the market that was filled with sweaters, blankets, wall hangings, trinkets, etc.  We spent an hour and a half shopping and I bought an alpaca sweater, a patch, postcards, and a backpack.  Others bought blankets, scarves, movies, mandolins, pencil pouches and other things.  

When we finally got back at 6:00, Stephanie and I cooked dinner for everyone because it is our scheduled day.  We made pasta with sausage, garlic, onion, bell pepper, and tomato for 14 people.  The process was very time consuming, especially because the water took about 25 minutes to boil due to the altitude and we had to make gluten free pasta and vegetarian toppings separate.  After dinner, Rose and Necko served Kirk his chocolate birthday cake with chocolate frosting (all made from scratch!) and we sang happy birthday and prayed for him.  The cake was fabulous! 

After dinner, Kirk learned how to play his new mandolin with Necko.  Then, Kirk, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Nicki, David, and I played Apples to Apples for 2 hours and we had so much fun laughing the whole time. Kirk said that it was a great way to end his birthday :)

Heidi