We met with the Friends leadership today to plan out the details of our time here. Timoteo had already mapped everything out for us, we were able to sit down and finalize the details and discuss our options.
Here is a rough sketch, so you can have an idea what we’re up to, day to day.
Saturday July 25 (today) Rest and recovery from travels. Lunch and Dinner with Timoteo and family, and other church leaders.
Sunday July 26 – Church at the New Jerusalem Friends Church (i need to work on my Spanish). first service 8:30-10, second service 10-12:30. We are going to sing a song or two, we’ll see how that goes- it should be fun! Emily Danforth is going to share a children’s bible story involving painting and really cool stuff that pops out of the painting as she’s telling the story, and more I’m sure.
Sunday afternoon, we will go to our host homes to settle in for the duration. We’ll be staying at 2 homes in groups of 5 and 6.
Monday July 27 We will be visiting the Bible College established by Friends here many years ago when they bought a farm to convert to a school. Tim Burdick is thrilled about this, as his doctoral thesis involved studying the early Friends Church in Bolivia. I’m certain Tim will blog about this day in exciting detail.
Tuesday July 28 We will be participating in church services that last from 9-5 this day. We have committed to joining in from 10:30 to 2, and will enjoy lunch with the church community.
Wednesday July 29 We will be visiting some archeological sites to learn about some of the ancient history of the area. This should be very interesting and educational. Many of us older group members are super excited about this.
Thursday July 30 We have a visit to El Alto, a neighboring city to La Paz, and we’ll be visiting a Friends Church there and enjoying the amazing views of La Paz from above.
Friday July 1 This day, we’ll be traveling to the jungle area for the day. Many of the friends churches in Bolivia are in this area. This is also a tourism destination because of the beauty of the area.
Saturday July 2 Lake Titicaca. Seriously, look u some pics of it. Amazing.
Sunday July 3 Church services with the New Jerusalem Friends Church, they’ve promised to put us to work this day. Tim Burdick may be doing some preaching or sharing of some sort.
Monday July 4 A day to tour La Paz and ride a tram, there are some spectacular views.
Tuesday July 5 More exploring the city and hitting the markets for souveniers and gifts.
Wednesday July 6 We fly out at about 3:30 am and head to Miami for some debrief time.
God Bless,
Todd and the 2016 YCEW team
YCEW Global 2016 Bolivia 
So fun guys!!!!! So excited for you and love picturing you there. Praying for all of you lots. PS- is Tom Burdick related to Leslie Burdick? I went to Wheaton with a Leslie Burdick who after college lived in La Paz!
Love you all!
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Hi to all of you. I am on Skype for the past hour and one half with the Centennial INELA History Team. They informed me that some of you were in the Friends School “cancha” playing with the students, but have gone home now. I am glad that the home visits are going well. One correction on the origins of El Alto. It was originally part of La Paz, until the needs of governance and finances became more than the municipality in the lower city could handle. So the city was divided into two in the early ’90’s. The upper city of El Alto has grown significantly in the last twenty years. There were more than 30 congregations in the two cities by 1989. Our last assignment before we came to the States in 1990 was to encourage the formation of congregations in the two cities. Some of these flourished, and are strong congregations today. Others merged back into existing churches. The city churches are generally doing much much better than those in the rural areas, because of migration to La Paz.
I don’t think you have been able to visit our history office there in the third floor of the old mission house that has become the offices for the ISETA leadership training school, the grade and high school there, and the Friends INELA offices. I heard that you did have a snowstorm there in the city last week. I loved the description of the Sunday class you gave for kids. I wish you had another two weeks there, but it sounds like you are filling your time well. I expect you enjoyed your views of the city today from the gondolas of the teleférico.
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