H29

To say sorting through and choosing pictures to share from our home in Litein is difficult is an understatement. The place will forever hold a special place in our heart. Inside H29 (our apartment) we have memories of growing as a family, time with friends, experimenting cooking, and battling mosquitoes, ants and spiders. My favorite memory will forever be of praying and reading the bible together as a family in block H29.

Because we realize short term missions are often focused on the missionary, our prayer was that somehow despite this truth, we could make a lasting, even if small, impact in Litein. I am certain beyond a doubt that Litein made a huge impact on each of us and I ask for you to continue praying that the friendships we built will have made an impact in Litein.

“Alex! Alex!” All day every day the neighbor children stood outside our window calling for the kids to come play outside. They also took every opportunity they could to join us inside and learn more about is. They were just as curious as we were about their homes!

Mercy surprised Andrew and I with thank you gifts and below is the blanket she gave me to carry “baby Alexander.”

The kids loved spending time in the yard out front blowing bubbles and sharing popcorn with the neighbor children.

Elizabeth’s friends Abigail and Faith, sisters, were enthralled by Elizabeth. A few weeks after we arrived, we began receiving little notes from Abigail. She would drop the beautiful and adorable letters in our window secretly. Elizabeth was thrilled to practice writing letters back and we hope they can remain penpals!

When I was taking pictures of our apartment, Mercy insisted I take a picture of her doing laundry. I felt very awkward taking the picture but she was so proud. Every week she washed the childrens clothes and a few of Andrew and my clothes.

Here Andrew is proving to Alexander that his hat truly is waterproof!

Below is our kitchen and gas cooker. Thankfully Mercy helped me navigate cooking in the new surroundings with new groceries. We ate very well compared to their standards but to us we felt stretched with our diet…

We spoiled ourselves with bottled water and the locals got a kick out of how much water we drank. They pride themselves on not needing more than a sip of water a day so for us to go through so much was unbelievable. It was fun to share the empty bottles with them because they were so appreciative.

The favorite part of the kitchen was my notecard from Allison. “Its Fine! He is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him. God always provides. Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding. Be still and know that I am God.”

Internet proved to be quite the fiasco… It took Andrew multiple days to buy the correct access card and get it loaded on his computer who of course recognized it as a virus. Then to be connected, he had to run around outside looking for a signal, connect, and then run back inside and hang the modem out the window, praying it would stay connected! And although it took 2-3 minutes to load each new page, our emails with family and friends, mainly Andrew’s dad and Allison, were an amazing encouragement to both of us!

Below is a huge avocado a medical student brought us from her parents farm. They were delicious but only left us craving corn tortilla chips! We did love eating them with white rice and beans.