Six months!

This week we celebrated our 6-month anniversary on the mission.  Which means we have finished a third of our commitment and have less than a year left!  A bit of panic as we consider all the things we want to do.  When we say "celebrated," that is only figurative.  We did not have time to actually stage a celebration.  Great attendance at our English classes.  We got to visit our friends north of town, and bring the new sisters along.  Elder Porter is working on resuscitating a ping-pong table, fun for the younger folks (and himself).

So Six Months...         

• without riding a bicycle or driving a car.
• without Mexican food
• without a bathtub
• without a trip to Aldi
• without a dishwasher
• without a lot of things that we thought we couldn't live without.

But we do have a good life here.

Here are a few glimpses into our everyday life:

I have this breakfast most days. We found a whole-grain "cereal bread" that is not overly sweet.  I have an egg in bread most days.  Cooking the egg this way keeps the pan pretty clean.  Yes, we are using a non-stick pan that was provided, rather than the cast-iron that we use at home.

We get clean water delivered to our apartment.  We use this for everything:  cooking, brushing teeth, as well as drinking and making ice.  

We are so grateful that we've had little illness since arriving here.  A huge part of  that is access to clean water.  More than 27 million Indonesians lack safe water, and our church has done many projects here to improve the situation.

I am personally grateful to Elder Porter for lugging that water bottle up onto the dispenser a few times each week.

We are fortunate to have an electric washing machine.  It only works with cold water, and no dryer.  But having hand-washed our laundry for four months in Brazil, we appreciate the luxury.  Choosing a drying rack was a tough decision, and we like this one because it has room for items on hangars as well as hanging garments and towels.  I try to put the tops together then bottoms in a different spot, so that once they dry I can gather them up and shove them into a zippered pouch.  I have two of those, as well as smaller bags for socks. (No time for folding.)