June 30, 2016

Today we went with the Sampson's to visit the first person who was baptized here. We climbed into the truck and headed to his house. I had never been into the villages. It's hard to describe how these people live, just tiny little shacks with tin roofs, built on hillsides. They walk everywhere and are able to haul a lot of things; one women was carrying bottled water in a bag that fit on her forehead and then went down her back! So amazing. We crossed a small river, where women were washing and bathing and saw people just hanging out everywhere. We finally arrived at the member's shack only to find him not there. But his daughter and her family were there and they let me take a picture of them. The children are pretty shy of white people but agreed to have their picture taken. A family just next to them had a pet cockatoo. It was a very humbling experience.  

We ran a few errands with the Sampson's and then went to a food court in the Panatina Mall to have lunch. There were three different food vendors to pick from, sandwiches, pizza, and Chinese, similar to Panda Express. We chose the Chinese place and ordered lemon fish. We shared a plate of noodles with the lemon fish. It was so good. We will definitely eat there again.

At this same mall, there is a food store that imports from New Zealand. Things are pretty expensive but we are happy to pay for it. We found mayo and tortilla chips there. The chips aren't like Los Hermanos but they taste pretty good. We have also found butter, cheese (not like Tillamook but pretty good), chicken, mince (hamburger) and most everything. So we know we won't starve. The problem is it takes several stops to get things.

We were able to talk to Chris and Amy over google hangouts today. Boy, that seemed so fun. The internet did cut out on us once but we just tried again. I love this modern technology.  I took some pictures of our new flat.

kitchen, dining, living area

bananas outside our flat

the office

The most comfortable chairs...to the right of the table