Sunday, January 24, 2016 -- Month #11 - Week #49 - Day #342 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Church! And the cold continues! Ugh. But today was pretty good, more or less. Lots of waiting, and they canceled Branch Counsel on us, so we went and taught Keyla and Alexandra and got some hot chocolate and cookies! That was very much needed, as I feel that I'm getting sick again. Grr. Some congestion and a cough. And yes, Mom, I'm taking vitamins! Don't worry. And we did another visit, and finished our day. Yup, not much happened, just cold. And super tired.

Saturday, January 23, 2016 -- Month #11 - Week #49 - Day #341 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

This morning we had a small meeting with Pres Dester for him to explain some things about our new responsibilities as Hna Lideres, and he brought us the new stove and DVD player we've been asking forever for! We were really happy about everything. And Hna Dester gave us Ritz crackers and a juice box, as she always brings us snacks when she sees us. I love them!

Then we headed over to Hna Aide for lunch, and she gave us this really good tortilla and chicken thing called pastel campesino, which basically are Mexican enchiladas (because Honduran enchiladas are different) but flat.

The lunch from Hna Aide

Tortilla, chicken-tomato-onion-bell pepper-cheese, tortilla, chicken-tomato-onion-bell pepper-cheese, tortilla...etc. With some cheese on top and baked. Or heated through or whatever, but it was really good. Considering that it was FREEZING cold today, due to some cold front that decided to come through. So I finally put on my purple leather jacket and Hna Cruz borrowed my gray sweater, and we huddled together for warmth all day. Ugh, I don't like being cold. And in a skirt! I missed my jeans and fuzzy socks.

I'm also getting pretty good at arguing/haggling over prices about things, namely bus rides. Normally we are charged 10 lemps each to go to Aide, but this one guy kept insisting that we had to pay him 15 each. And poor Hna Cruz didn't know what was going on as she'd never gone over there before, so I handled the situation myself. He was in a bad mood with everyone and there were problems with another few passengers over ticket prices. But I won in the end, and so we were happy! I'm good at crossing my arms and being stubborn, haha!

There's this sweet little girl that gave me a little note!

"Hola Hermana Mower, saludos a todos los hermanos y hermanas. Y a usted la quiero mucho y a todos los hermanos los quiero mucho. Y a la hermana que vino con usted. De Kensy y Daniel."

Translation:

"Hello Hermana Mower, say hi to all the brothers and sisters (of the Church) for me. I love you a lot and I love all the brothers and sisters (of the Church) a lot as well. And the sister that came with you. From Kensy and Daniel."

Friday, January 22, 2016 -- Month #11 - Week #49 - Day #340 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Well, we didn't do a whole lot today, actually. But we did go over and help Pastora and Lesvia make ticucos to help raise some money for the Relief Society, so that was fun. Only Copan has ticucos, by the way.

Making ticucos!

It's a little blob of corn masa with some red beans and a leaf that I forgot the name of, plopped into a water-soaked dry corn husk, folded, and then tie the ends so it looks like a little corn husk bag. Really cool, actually, and they turned out well.

We did that and some other citas, and introduced Hna Cruz to some more people over here in El Dorado.

And I'm learning about Ecuador, as that's where Hna Cruz is from. I like her, she's 23 years old, also been out for 11 months, and is studying accounting like Hna Escobar. Just her mom and her are active members in her family, and they're all converts. And she wants to learn English! I'm her first gringa companion. And now we're Hna Lideres together, so that's exciting.

Thursday, January 21, 2016 -- Month #11 - Week #49 - Day #339 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Weekly Planning! Whoo! We currently have 3 progressing investigators...2 of them will get baptized in a week, and the other will move the next week. Starting from zero again!

Went around and tried to find some more people who weren't there, and did some other visits to members and whatnot.

Some cool sky shots

And went over to this lovely Noche de Hermanamiento activity from the Relief Society, where Hna Cruz and I were standing for an hour listening to a group of ladies talk about humility. We got juice and crackers afterwards. Gotta love women talking about tons of stuff!

And, by the way, you can't eat until the tortillas are done. Like you won't be served food until there is an available stack of tortillas. They take tortillas very seriously here, if you didn't know!

Wednesday, January 20, 2016 -- Month #11 - Week #49 - Day #338 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Wednesday! Today we were able to watch a worldwide missionary training broadcast this morning, which was really good. Got some good counsel and ideas, so that was very much needed.

Lunch at the Chinese Restaurant!

And we all went over to the Chinese place again for lunch, enjoyed a whole bunch of Chinese food in Honduras. Didn't know that combination was possible, honestly. But there's a whole bunch of Chinese people that live in Honduras for some reason.

Hna Bautista, Mora, Poot, Farao, 
E Quintana, Martinez,
Ordonez, Benitez, Hna Cruz! And me, of course.

And we went looking for some other people, but couldn't find them, so we went exploring around in Miraflores again and got ourselves all lost...mud pits and trees and hills and everything! So know we know to not go down this one path. But we're totally fine, just were surprised at how much we had managed to wander. So we got ourselves found again and we headed over to the church to wait for Wilmer to come for la Coordinacion Misional. Had that, did our Noche de Hermanamiento, and headed ourselves home. These past few days it's been a little cooler, which has been nice, but it gets a little brisk once the sun has gone down.

Some more landscape shots while we were exploring

Tuesday, January 19, 2016 -- Month #11 - Week #49 - Day #337 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Soooooo today was another crazy day, as always with changes. And a day early, again. But these changes were crazy! Basically in the morning we had to drop people off on buses and take care of people at our house while waiting for them to get back from changes, and cleaned the house, and wrote some more letters, and talked with the 6 other hnas in our house...and wash clothes because we didn't have time yesterday. So, lo and behold, as I entered the house again, Hna Farao had already called to see who was coming to Copan and who was going where and all that, and I was greeted with a giant congratulatory shout from all 6 hnas. Wanna know why? I apparently am now an Hermana Lider Entrenadora! In Copan! With Hna Cruz as my companion! This is the first time in the mission where there have been Hnas Lideres in Copan...so now there's 4 of us (which has happened before, but both companionships were up in SPS) and we kinda were really surprised. I had a feeling that Hna Cruz would be my companion, but I didn't think I'd be with her in this capacity. So there, that's some news. I'm a really important person apparently and I have no idea how this important person business is supposed to go. Oh, also, this change is extended a week so we'll be here for 7 weeks this time. This is due to an extension (we don't know at what level it's at, but at least Central America and Mexico) of a week to all the missionaries starting this change. This is because they're extending the time of the missionaries that already know the language to 3 weeks instead of 2. This is gonna be interesting!

And E Hadley got switched out as well, is now in Puerto Cortes as a Zone Leader (was our DL), E Granja switched out to Chamelecon and will die as ZL in March, and Hna Mora went over to Florida, with is like 20 mins down the road (where the bus driver always eats baleadas for breakfast when we go do to the Ruinas). And we received E Alfaro as our DL and E Toolson as our other ZL. This is gonna be a fun district!

Later, we got Hna Cruz home and kinda settled a little bit and we went and did some lessons. We're actually teaching these 2 sisters that are progressing really well, they're getting baptized on the 30 of January! So we're really excited for them.

And, in other news from Honduras, mango trees, due to their massive size and other factors, only have flowers in a small region of the tree at a time. So only about half or a third or a fourth of the tree is blooming at a time, depending on the size of the tree.

And I have gotten some leg muscle endurance! I'm proud of myself! Hna Cruz had gotten used to walking on flat surfaces over in SPS for a change, while I've been working out all my lower body for the past little while with all these blessed mountains we're climbing around on, and now I don't get as tired as fast as she does! I feel the strength in me!!! Haha, yeah, it is nice to be able to measure my progress, though. So that was encouraging.

So yeah, crazy day, with lots of crazy news, but it's gonna be a fun change. Gonna be a fun ride.

Monday, January 18, 2016 -- Month #11 - Week #48 - Day #336 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Pday! Although it wasn't really much of one because we just got Hna Mora packing, went to eat with the elderes, wrote our families, and Hna Mora said goodbye to some people and finished packing. And it was rainy and cold the entire time. Ick. And then we had to coordinate everyone with who was getting on the bus to go to changes and all that fun stuff...it always gets a little crazy! But we get everyone figured out and with their suitcases and in houses for the night. Hna Perez stayed with Hna Mora and I, so we ended up talking for a while, which was fun. She has some funny stories to tell. It's kinda weird for me at this point in the mission because I'm actually older (have more time) than the majority of the hnas out here. It's interesting to see the rising generation and realize that I'm a little old lady now.

Sunday, January 17, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #48 - Day #335 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Church! We received some training from a video address of our Area Presidency on how we can strengthen our wards and branches and work with our Area's Plan of Action. So that was good.

And I drew with Expo marker while waiting for Branch Counsel
to start on Sunday. I miss having hours and hours for art!

And had lunch, and came right back again for Branch Counsel, and then did some visits. Good day, really sore from all of yesterday!

And we were informed that Hna Mora has changes! We've finished up her training, and now she's flying! But we know she's going over to Florida (an area about 20 mins away, part of our zone still) and will be with Hna Bautista, so that's not too drastic of a change. She's kinda dealing with all the emotions, but she's a trooper. And we'll still see each other all the time, actually, which is a different experience for me as well. But we're happy about that, she's done well here in El Dorado, and she's learned and grown a lot in my time with her.

She celebrated 3 months in the mission on the 14th, so I made her a little congratulatory banner, which she loved. I'm gonna miss her! I don't feel like she was my "baby," she was more of my buddy, my companion. Which I think is how it should be. She's got a good head on her shoulders, and she'll mature into a strong, wonderful missionary. Yay Hna Mora!

Funny story of the day: in my little Spanish hymnal I have the name tag rubbings of my companions. As we were finishing up planning tonight, I ask Hna Mora if she would mind adding hers in my hymnbook. "I have a little tradition where I have a rubbing of my companion's tags in my hymnbook," I said, and so she said alright and took off her name tag and started rubbing it in little circles on the cover of my hymnbook and asked, "I put my name in it like this?" I realized what she was doing and started laughing. And explained a little further that you had to choose your favorite hymn and put the tag behind the page and then make a relief rubbing of the engraved name onto the page with a colored pencil. That made a lot more sense for her. So then we exchanged hymnals and colored our names into them for each other. I love Hna Mora!  She's so sweet and sincere, even when it makes me laugh a little sometimes.

And a good quote from a Sacrament Meeting talk: "La perseverancia no es que terminamos primero, es que terminamos siempre." Or that persevering doesn't mean that we finish first, it's that we always finish. Good point. Slow and steady, perhaps, but we will finish.

Saturday, January 16, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #48 - Day #334 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

16-01-16 Palindrome date! Today was fun, pretty much nothing went to plan, but it all turned out well. We went and had lunch with Hna Aide (the lady with the farm in her backyard) and went exploring around and didn't find a single person, so that was weird.

So we headed over to the church to go plink around on the piano, but we decided to pick up the huge mess of leaves in the church grass instead. So we started doing that, and a little while later a whole bunch of kids came out and helped up pick up leaves as well. Then we got ourselves sort of cleaned up in the bathroom (we were super hot and sweaty because we didn't have rakes, so we had to either use a broom and sweep the leaves across the grass or crawl around on your hands and knees, or bend over 80 bajillion times. It's a work out!) and got ourselves presentable to attend the activity the Relief Society was doing at the church as well. We played some silly games with Relief Society trivia, and had a potluck sort of dinner afterwards, which was good. And then we went and did some visits! So everything turned out well. Very exhausted and tired.

Dad: I found a house down here with the asphalt roofing material stuff
that we have back home! That's the first time I've seen that!
It's almost always corrugated metal or some kind of ceramic tiles.

Friday, January 15, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #48 - Day #333 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Today was really chill, just did our studies in the morning, had lunch, and did some visits. Nothing much of note happened.

We found a wounded turtle on the side of our road the other day... 

I think its shell got punched in and 
cracked somehow. Poor little guy. 

Thursday, January 14, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #48 - Day #332 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Weekly Planning! Although we had to break it up into like 3 segments due to a bunch of citas that had to be at certain times...that was interesting. But, we got it done! And taught Hna Mora a few more things about the records and who goes where and what to write about them and whatnot. So we finally got all that done. And our lunch was bean soup! That was the first time in my mission that I've had bean soup. I think it's good, not my favorite, but good.

Sopa de Frijol

It's just beans totally blended up with water and tons of salt, with a big scoop of rice plopped in it and hard boiled eggs floating around. With some corn tortillas. Good stuff. Apparently it's a miracle food for people with anemia (because the red beans have iron). Come to think if it, there's a lot of miracle foods like that down here. Anyways, that was our lunch.

And we had another lesson with the 2 sisters we're planning on getting baptized January 30th, they're awesome. One's 13 years and the other one's 9 years. We always enjoy visiting them.

Today and yesterday I was attacked by mosquitoes! All over my hands and feet I got bit. Grr. So I'm liberally applying hydrocortisone all over. I haven't gotten this many bites in a long time. It's highly annoying. Especially the bites on the bottom of my foot and on the tops on my fingers by the knuckles. Those ones hurt. And are itchy. And can't scratch them well. I hate mosquitoes.

But, I found 241 lps hiding under the pile of my agendas on my desk, so that was happy! It's always fun when you find your money again.

And apparently if you cut platano verde off the tree while the moon is waxing it will never ripen or turn yellow. Ever. It will just dry out and be useless if you try and wait to see if it will ripen. But you can cut it when the moon's full for 3-8 days and it will ripen really fast in 2 days. So someone fact-check that for me, but it's totally common knowledge here. So I learned about platanos today and when you're supposed to cut them.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #48 - Day #331 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Wednesday! Almost halfway through the week. Today we carried a box of copies of the Book of Mormon all the way over to our Primary President because she needed to give some of the kids the scriptures. And then our lunch appointment lady had to go to the doctor and forgot about our lunch, so we went back home and made some lunch ourselves. Problem is, we're almost out of money and food because of all our traveling and touristing, so we need to wait until Friday to get our quincena money. But we're fine, just making some interesting meals.

Then we went and did a few visits, and went over to the church to get ready for la Noche de Hermanamiento! A lot of people came, so that was awesome. For the game they did the one where you put something in the middle of 2 groups, and 1 person from each has to run and try to grab the thing and return to their side before getting tagged by the other person. Problem was, I think they forgot about the tagging part because we basically played whoever got to the thing and grabbed it first. Which I don't think is quite as fun, but they seemed to enjoy it. So that was fun. And we gave suckers afterwards for participating. Good day overall.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #48 - Day #330 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

I love not having normal access to church buildings...we waited over an hour for someone to find the keys to the church the elderes go to so we could have our District Meeting. Yeah. So we basically had a mini District Meeting for 20 minutes and it was Elder Hadley's birthday today so we got him a pinata and he whacked it. Without a blindfold, which is cheating, but we all got a bunch of candy.

Elder Hadley's Birthday Pinata!

Then we all got lunch. I am really curious as to how and where the missionaries back home have those meetings. I hope it's a little more under control over there for them.

Then went looking for some people who weren't home, so we went and talked to this other 80 year old Catholic lady. We have a cita to return to, so that's good. And then we went and did some more lessons and walked a lot. We actually walked about 4 miles today. I'm not sure how much missionaries are supposed to walk, but those 4 miles were all uphill, so it felt like a lot. I'm also curious to know what's the proportion of calories burned on normal, flat-surface walking as it is going uphill with a 10 lbs backpack? I don't know if that made sense, but if I supposedly burned 379.2 calories walking normally, I figure it would be more on a multi-level terrain with extra weight in the equation.

But, funny story: so we went and taught our last lesson of the day, so we were exhausted and tired, and there was a painting of a guacamaya on the wall. So Hna Mora, all excited, points and goes, "ey, hay una maracuya!" (hey, there's a passion fruit!) and we all started laughing. We had been at the bird park all of yesterday, and we all had maracuya juice for lunch, so she just got the words mixed up. But it was really funny, I love languages!

Monday, January 11, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #47 - Day #329 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Pday! We went to the Parque de Aves over in Copan Ruinas as a district, so that took all day and was really fun. Also got back late so we couldn't write everybody. Sorry about that! It's a little tricky because we need to get back to have our writing time and go shopping and get everything back to the house and get ready to go do a few lessons. Busy days! And when we go out like that we don't have any time to wash clothes or clean the house. But I think that's all the stuff we'll do in Copan for a while, so we'll hopefully stick a little closer to home for a few weeks. But we really enjoy going out, that's always fun.

Our bus driver got breakfast again, but we were prepared and bought some baleadas and orange juice as well and ate them on the bus. Sad thing was that we saw a dead horse on the side of the road a while before. Just on it's side, legs sticking straight out. So that wasn't really how I wanted to start off the morning. And then a lady brought a live chicken on the bus. It kinda sat under her arm and clucked and flopped its wings and stuff. And then the whole bird park thing. So today was the day of animals!

But the Bird Park was really neat, it was so interesting to see lots of macaws and parrots. They're these huge, beautiful birds.

Guacamaya (macaw)

Loros! (parrots)

A coffee plant

Another cool bird

Bird Park

And at the end there's a place where you can hold them on your shoulder and arms! They're kinda heavy, about 3-5 lbs, but gorgeous.

Hermana Mower and Hermana Mora

And in the gift shop I bought a pair of earrings that look like macaws! A tad bit pricey ($3, or about 60 lps) but they were so cute and I loved them!

My macaw earrings!

Sunday, January 10, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #47 - Day #328 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Sunday! Church! Consejo de Rama that took forever to start and we still took forever to finish! And a visit to less-actives that gave us baleadas! Good day, still exhausted. Oh, and I sang a solo in Relief Society because the teacher wanted to have everyone sing a hymn, but no one knew it, so the gringas should know it, of course, but Hna Mora didn't know it. So it was just me. But they all loved that, and it was kinda fun to sing again. But yeah, we're really into impromptu things like that here.

Saturday, January 9, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #47 - Day #327 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Today we did a Supercontacto in el Parque with the District. Just went and talked to everyone that entered the park for 2 hours in the morning, got to meet some good people. It's still weird, because I can tell that I flip into a really bubbly, energetic, mindset when I go contacting. Kinda have to to avoid getting discouraged and serious. But even after we ended you still kinda feel that high for a little while.

 Another pic of Honduras

Then we went out to lunch, and then we came back to the church for Coordinacion with Wilmer, our Ward Mission Leader, and then we practiced the hymns we were gonna sing tomorrow in church. Still missing my piano back home! Or at the very least having a sustain pedal. But people are just happy that someone is up there plinking around, so I guess it's fine.

And then we went around and did a few more visits, had to do some therapy listening as these people shared about their life stories and all the people in their families that have died. Which is a lot. But they're still doing alright.

Other than that, fairly normal day. Just lots of meetings and waiting and listening.

Rooster!

Friday, January 8, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #47 - Day #326 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

So, we were gonna have divisions with the Hermanas Lideres Entrenadores, but they canceled with us this morning because they forgot they had a meeting in SPS. So we're off the hook for this change.

So we re-planned and went exploring and contacting a little bit more, as our cita fell through.

And some pretty flowers we found as we were exploring,
there's a bumblebee, too!

And then went and visited a bunch more less-actives. And had another normal-ish lesson. Interesting day, fairly emotionally drained. But, we got to hold week-old puppies! So that was awesome.

Puppies!!!!!!!

They still had their eyes closed most of the time, and the one I was holding fell asleep on my lap for a good 6 minutes. So we got to play with some puppies and we felt better.

And Hna Mora and I also did a snail race to make us laugh. We timed ourselves to see how far we could inch our steps along in a minute...I think we moved about 12 feet. So not too bad! But we both were smiling and laughing, and I'm sure the people watching us thought we were crazy, but that was another good little pick-me-up.

And we found la Iglesia Evangelica "Amigos". Go religion.

Thursday, January 7, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #47 - Day #325 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Today we went over to Santa Luz, a part of our area that has a lot of inactive members, which was good. Got to meet some good people and invite them to church again, but most don't go because they would have to pay 10 lempiras to go in a bus to the church, or walk for about 30 mins. So most have reconverted to Evangelicals by now for not going to church. We've got some work to do.

Then we went and did some visits to a few less-actives closer to home, and invited them to church as well. So we basically just went around to a bunch of people that don't want to come to church. Nothing really noteworthy happened. But I did find 2 more churches:

- Iglesia Evangelica Menonita

- Templo Fuente de Vida, Asamblea de Dios

Wednesday, January 6, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #47 - Day #324 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

You know why I don't like the rain down here? Because then the power goes out. And we can't cook or use fans or have light or have our DVD player work for music, and you have to be home earlier. We didn't have power all day from when we woke up until 8:30 pm. That's the longest I've been without electricity on the mission so far, made for an interesting day.

We did training in the morning, made some phone calls to confirm a bunch of stuff, had lunch, helped Kricia with her English test preparation, and did some more visits. And came home because it got dark and the power was still out. So we got out our candles and I showed Hna Mora how to set everything up and use candles. So we just sat there for about an hour, staring at the candle flame, because it was so pretty, talking about sciency light things. And then I got all pyro and burned a Post-it a little at a time, watching the tiny embers burn and fade. Then we rubbed the ash on our fingers and made fingerprints on a piece of tape. That was a fun little activity.

Playing with fire! I love how your hand looks in front of a candle flame.

Then we decided that we better plan for the next day, and then all of a sudden the power came back. So as we were blowing out the candles and we were in darkness for a second, I saw a little green light on the floor, like the shining of a computer power light or something. So I thought that was really odd, and when I turned on the actual light, we saw that it was a little firefly. Problem was, it had somehow gotten into the house and wandered over to where I put my bug spray on, and so it was all twitching because of the DEET in the bug spray.

And the little firefly that I inadvertently killed
with almost 100% DEET bug spray...sorry little guy!

So felt really bad about that and scooped it up and put it outside. Hopefully it's alright, poor little guy. I don't like it when nice insects die, like butterflies and ladybugs and fireflies. Flies and mosquitoes, those can definitely go away.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #47 - Day #323 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Had district Meeting, talked about how we can work better with the members and involving them in missionary work, and went out to lunch afterwards. Then we went contacting and met some interesting people, and we finally were able to have a lesson with this one lady. She's nice enough, fairly receptive. Her family all goes to the Jehovah's Witnesses for the past 2 years, but she goes to the Catholic church every once in a while. Doesn't know much about God or Jesus Christ. She's also the oldest, and her youngest sister is 15 and I think is nonverbal autistic. Her name is Gabi, and she loves listening to music, and she's very sweet. As a missionary, I like being around children that are special, because I feel that they know exactly who we are and who we represent, even if the people around them don't. And even if I can't speak the language perfectly or can't do everything right, I felt that at least Gabi understood what I was getting at. So that was a special lesson.

And then we met up with Wilmer to go visit a bunch of less-actives and see what was up with them, and so that we could know where they live and we'll keep visiting them. We've gotta do a LOT of reactivation over here.

And it was rainy and windy the entire day, so we were all wet and cold. I don't like the rain very much. Good day, overall, though.

Monday, January 4, 2016 -- Month #10 - Week #46 - Day #322 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Pday! We slept in a little bit, washed clothes and cleaned the house. Got dressed, and went out to lunch with the elderes. Wrote our peeps back home (hey there!) and bought some food for this week. And did some visits in the nighttime. And that was it. Really chill day.

Made myself some fried squash sticks as part of my dinner one night...
just trying to experiment and get some more veggies in my diet...
in whatever unhealthy manner possible!

From a letter home to Mom:

And Christmas is gone! No! That is sad. I know I should take down my little Nativity and tree, but they're so pretty and we need some decorations in our houses. I even hung up my stocking my our desk just to have more stuff on the wall! I think I'll wait until I have changes to take it all down. And I really do love them...I love the green glitter sparkles and the cute little LED lights! That was so creative. And the popsicle stick stable is lovely. I love all of it! I will give it to someone for their next Christmas, or give it to a special family I meet at the end of my time here, they'll love the little tiny lights, I'm sure! (those sort of things don't exist here...don't know if that goes without saying...)

My Christmas tree and Nativity!

House pics! Been here for a month, figured I ought to show
ya'll where I'm at...

Outdoor pila where we hand wash all our laundry each week!

Our hammock is a fitted sheet tied on the ends...
it's surprisingly very comfortable.