Another Reunion

A few weekends ago, I had the privilege of being reunited with a family that I had stayed with on the colonies when I was here in Bolivia in '98.  I had some contact with Justine after I left the first time, writing letters, exchanging pictures up until our first children were born.  Then things got busy, we lost touch.

So, like the last time, I tried to track down Justine, by talking to folks that had connections on the colonies.  I found out from Helen, that Justine's parents lived on a particular colony, and from someone else I actually got her Dad's cell phone.  I thought just to be sure, I'd write her a note and put it in the colony mailbox in Centro Menno.  And then I waited for her to call.

A few days later, she called!  She was so thrilled that I had made contact with her.  She actually saw my picture in the Menno Bote (MCC's in house magazine for Colony Mennonites and others) and knew she had to come in and meet me again.

We decided to meet for lunch; all of us with our husbands, our children and Justine's parents.  We had a lovely time out, visiting and catching up.  Kind of funny, all of us speaking in our second language!  Justine's mom was so happy that she learned Spanish so she could talk with me.  It was a real blessing.  We are hoping to go out to Justine and Ben's place in the next few weeks before we leave.  It would be great to see where they live.  And since they have family in Canada, this may not be the last time we see each other.

 Justine and I

 Justine's Mom Tina, Me and Justine

 With Dietrich and Tina

Both families, Whew! lots of kids