Incredible, hardworking, giving, ridiculous teams. We had a total of 5 teams this summer (also known as Bolivian winter) and it was just amazing.
Team 1 was an Open Team (meaning that it is open to everyone, not just church groups, so that anybody can come... including you!) and this year it happened to be all girls. These ladies are absolutely fabulous and even though work projects were done with New York accents all week, I love them dearly! All of them are sponsors, many are from my home church in Florida, and many have come for so many years that I consider them part of my own Bolivian family.
Team 2 was a church youth group from the Orlando, FL area. It was the first time this particular church had sent a team and they too were wonderful. A great friend of mine that I have known since early 2001 and has been coming to Bolivia for years invited his family... who invited their small group... who invited their church! Not only a fun week this year, but they are already signed up for a team next year too!
Team 3 was another church group that came about based on connections. CIN's multimedia guy brought his family last year on the Open Team, and this year they brought their church from Maryland! They were a cozy and sincere team that did so much work! They also made great sacrifice to arrive... originally they had a direct flight from Washington DC to Bolivia but because of a bankrupt airline they had to switch not only increasing their cost but taking flights to Miami and Peru before making 2 stops in Bolivia. It ended up being lots of long flights and long layovers in each spot too. But they made it!
We then had a week semi-off. There wasn't a team, but the founder/director of CIN and his family along with another family of their friends arrived. Different schedule but still a full house.
Team 4 was a church group from North Carolina that has been coming to Bolivia forever. Really. Since before there were any boys at the BLC, they helped to build the building. They are a solid team and it has been great fun to watch their families grow up over the years. Their hearts are huge and they are constantly looking for needs that they can meet for us. Not sure what we would do without them.
Team 5 was our last team and just plain fun. When a faithful member of the church from Team 4 found herself in a new church, it certainly didn't stop her from coming to Bolivia! It just meant that we had a whole new church coming to see us! Smaller churches tend to send smaller groups, but that just meant there was enough room for us to add a few more friends to the mix that weren't able to come on the dates of the Open Team. Such a fun mix it turned out to be! An incredible mesh of great people.
This, by the way, is my 200th post. You are impressed, I know. Especially since I have been blogging for something like 12 years. Just how distracted can one person get, right?
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