Wish you were here!

We knew that starting today, our weekend was going to be a blur of activity, both with church plant related activities and the arrival of a friend of Scotty's who will be staying with us for a week. So, we decided to take a mid-week, two-day vacation to Urmiri, a secluded hot spring a couple hours from La Paz. The last time we tried this trip was the ill-fated, collarbone-breaking expedition, in which we never made it all the way. This time, we had no accidents and arrived just in time for the skies to cloud over and a light drizzle to begin. Thankfully, after a picnic lunch in the car and a dip in the hot springs while it was raining, the skies cleared again and remained mostly sunny for the rest of that day and the next. We enjoyed lounging in the hot pools, napping in big plastic chairs in the sun, reading, praying together, walking, and eating. They've done a fantastic job of filling every space with trees and flowers and there are always birds flying about and chirpping and a general ambiance of tranquility. We chose to camp in the picnic area, under a thatched roof, and when all the lights went out and the sun went down (they don't turn on the electricity if there's less than 10 people staying at the hotel- so no lights to get in the way), we had the most spectacular star show. I think that's the clearest view of the sky I've had, and it was amazing! We slept hard and enjoyed another day of rest before coming home mid-afternoon yesterday. Now, even though it's a holiday here and everything is shut down and people are heading off to the country (or the graveyards to visit their dead relatives- "Day of the Dead" today)- we're working at the office to try to prepare everything for this weekend. What a gift we had to spend those 2 days together, relaxing and being reminded that God is in control!