First couple of days in the mission field

Landing approach to Los Angeles Airport

 The front gate to our apartment complex. Cheryl and sister Demke.  The complex has two gates. Both of them have 24-hour attendants that open and close them for us.

Disembarking from our plane that landed in Bali

Our new Mission president, president Rowley

A photo opportunity in Bali

We had a Thursday night meeting  so the ward members could meet with the mission president. This he is our new church group + 2 taxi drivers, the mission couple were replacing and the mission president.

Today was our first Sunday. It was obvious we were not in Cameron Park anymore. Sacrament meeting service lasted about 45 minutes. Cheryl and I were asked to bare our testimonies. I got to bless both the bread and the water for the sacrament.  There was no priesthood or Relief Society meeting. Primary and a combined adult meeting lasted an additional 20 minutes.

We had three of the four adult members of our group in attendance.  In addition there were about 5 non members in attendance who came to say goodbye to the Demkes. We sang the hymns without musical accompaniment. All of the non-members in attendance were members the Demke's English as a second language class.  If they understood half of the words that were spoken it would be remarkable. All of the members of our group speak English but with very heavy accents that makes even their English difficult to understand.

It is very hot here. We were told it was hot but you don't appreciate it until you're in it for a while. It's very humid. You get sticky in about 2 seconds. So far almost every afternoon we have had heavy thunderstorms that last for about an hour.

All of our transportation is in taxi cabs. They are very inexpensive. Our average trip is about $2. They're all in very poor condition. None of them have seatbelts or air conditioning. Half of the doors don't work. The windshields are always cracked. They're pretty dirty And most of the drivers don't speak English. Which doesn't really matter because there are no address here. The city is divided into neighborhoods. Once you get to the neighborhood you give the drivers specific direction to the location. All of this has been fine so far as the couple who we are with speak enough of the native language to give directions. When we are on our own it's going to be interesting.