The Trapani's in Timor Leste

 This is a statue of Christ that is about 8 miles from our apartment in Dili. It is similar to the Christ statue in Brazil. It was built by the Portuguese in the 1990s in preparation for a visit by the Pope. It is on a hill that directly overlooks the ocean.  This picture gives you a perspective of the size. It is about 200 feet above the road and the ocean. This is almost to the top of the stairs. There are a lot of stairs  This is a picture looking towards dili from half way up to the statue  This is a picture of the road to the statue and the beach. It is low tide so the brown areas is sand that is exposed This was my first long run of the mission. Coming back to the apartment was pretty difficult. It was in the mid 80s and high humidity. I had to slow down a lot. I ran about 15 miles and came home and took a two-hour nap. Today is the 1st of January and everything is closed so we have a day off

We went into the mountains above dili for a closing ceremony for a small garden project. The View was amazing. Even better than the view was the fact that it was actually not hot up there. We went to a small village about 5 miles north of the city. Our charity paid for a small garden program they're so that they would have the ability to raise crops in the dryer months. The construction is interesting. There's a layer of plastic trash and garbage that is then covered by soil and mulch and vegetation clippings. Water goes down through the center of the garden. Somehow the garden uses very little water This is a picture of a Jackfruit tree. After the ceremony Cheryl gave out little airplane gifts to the young children that she brought from home. She then had to explain how to assemble them. Afterwards we had pictures. It's nice being the biggest person on the island. These are pictures of wild growing banana trees We were disappointed to learn that th

Today was our first Christmas party. We had pizza and french fries. Two of the four adult members attended. Cheryl had Christmas crafts for the three children. The adults in attendance were Eden and Nikki. Both are from the Philippines. Nikki works at the Philippine Embassy.  Eden owns a party business and a laundry service. This was our sacrament meeting the next day.  Eden and her children and Warlito were in attendance. Warlito spoke in sacrament meeting about the birth of the savior and I followed up with my testimony. Cheryl taught the three children in primary. For Sunday School we watched the Christmas video The Nativity and then we each bore Testimony afterwards. It was a nice Spirit-filled sacrament meeting. As testimony was born of the savior it was confirmed. It was a nice gift for the small group. This is what our Chapel looks like. This is our church. It is surrounded by a fence that is kept locked during non worship times. It has air conditioners in every r

This was a hole in the middle of a busy intersection. The only protection was a few rocks piled up. This is a close up of the unprotected hole. Below is the sewer running out to the ocean The main dock has only room for one or two boats to dock. This is a ferry boat being loaded to transport to a nearby Island. This is a gathering outside of the Harbor Gates waiting for the next ferry One of the countries ministerial buildings  Even though these waters are considered polluted for Western standards the citizens still swim in them. United States Embassy Cheryl and I try and go running every morning except Sundays. This week we only ran on Saturday because of our language classes that start early. We can only run early in the morning because of the temperature. We try and get out just a little bit after 6. The Sun comes over the mountain about 7:00 and things start to warm up. When we start running it's usually in the mid-70s and very humid. Our usual run

Everyone drives a motorbike. No cars. This was our bathroom at the school. The toilet did not work so you had to dip the blue pot into the water and poured into the toilet to flush it. A goat by our bus stop There was a bank branch on campus. Like all banks on the island they always have huge lines. This is a picture of the campus with classrooms To get home we had to walk about a half a mile out to the main road. Then we could either take a taxi or a microlet. The microlet is a little bus that costs $0.25. They're usually very crowded. When you want to stop you tap your coin on the handrail and the driver can hear you. The bus isn't more than a big van. We spent this week attending the Dili Institute of Technology language training class. The class went for 4 hours each morning for the week. We are learning a language called tetun. It was a small classroom with only Cheryl and I as students with a teacher.. The course was very hard. It's been a long ti

A thin kitten on the road by our apartment Speakers at the graduation ceremony. The lady was the director of a charity that provides a scholarship fund for the school. She spoke at length of the Australian and Timor Guerrilla war that was waged during World War II during the Japanese Occupation. This is the graduating class Don Bosco is a Catholic trade school that has locations in many developing world countries. At this school they provide training in automotive repair, refrigeration repair, Contracting, and office work. Almost all of their graduates are able to obtain employment upon graduation. During the year LDS charities donated computers for the office work area. Cheryl and I got to set in the dignitary section and presented two Awards to the graduates. We were then part of the dignitary group that stood as background for the various schools to be photographed. Students performing a ceremonial dance Students performing a ceremonial dance. We got to the event

This is a keyhole Garden. It is constructed using mainly local resources. Its benefit is that it produces high yields on very small amounts of water. The garden is now completed with a picture of all the villagers who contributed. It is important that the entire Village contributes so that they gain the skills to build future Gardens on their own. It is hoped that when the sample Garden is successful that the others will build their own. Its construction is interesting. The first layer inside the garden is trash such as plastic bottles burlap, paper, and sticks. Then there are alternating layers of soil and compost. The middle section is Stones surrounded by a plastic mesh. This is where the water is poured into. Villagers are directed to use their old dishwater as it contains a nutrients. After the ceremony tools were awarded to the Garden owner About one-half of the buildings in the village were constructed of bamboo and Palm leaves Afterwards there was a ceremonial

We spent the morning delivering Christmas gift packages to disabled clients of cbm.  They are a government agency that provides rehabilitation services. The gift baskets contain food and hygiene items. There were 50 baskets to be delivered. We delivered only the first four. The first basket went to a severely crippled 18 year old who had to be carried and placed on a mat by his parents. He is receiving physical therapy This is a picture of a gas station. The fuel is stored in used water bottles. In this picture we presented the gift basket to a father who lost his leg in an automobile accident. He has been rehabilitated to be an electronic Appliance repairman. He is the father of six children.. In this photo Cheryl is giving the relief basket 2 and 18 year old girl who is deaf and dumb. She is receiving sign language training. Normally LDS charities does not do this sort of humanitarian commodity work. Normally monies are spent to developed sustainable projects. But t