The Trapani's in Timor Leste

Cheryl and I recently visited the resistance Museum. It Chronicles the struggle for Independence that began in about 1974 and ended in 2003. During that time estimates of up to one third of the population perished. Any native who is at least in their early twenties has memories and experiences all the event. One of our humanitarian partners recited for us how he and his family had to flee and live in the jungle for many years. Our waitress at the local restaurant remembers fleeing into the mountains to avoid the soldiers. Because it was so recent, the museum has many artifacts that you usually do not see such as articles of clothing and color pictures. The revolution seemed fairly complicated. With strife among the revolting parties as well as many changes in leadership and philosophies. The majority of those who perished were not by bullets or bombs but through famine caused by the conflict and it's policies.  There are not many public artworks or statues except for

 There are cell towers everywhere here. I'm told that there's 100% cell coverage throughout the entire Island. There is virtually no landlines here. However it's only 3-g service. You pay by the call. Still we only use about $10 a month on cell service.  Because labor is so cheap here businesses have a lot of employees. In our apartment complex that has about 20 units there must be 8 full-time employees. This is a Allatino. His job is to stay by one of the two gates and open it whenever someone wants to walk through or a car pulls up. At night he sleeps in a small room by the gate just in case someone needs in or out. He also vacuums the pool. This is Azito. His job also is to open and close the gates. In addition he takes propane tanks a couple blocks away to be filled. He also vacuums the pool and hoses down the premises every day. He also does a lot of gardening. The guards usually sleep on the concrete floor with no mattress or pillow. And they usually keep

This week we had Elder Evans who is a member of the Quorum of 70 and also in the Asia area presidency visited us. He is in the white T-shirt. The taller man standing next to him is Paul Hansen who is the director of temporal Affairs for the church for the Asia region. They were here as part of the process to decide when is the right time to have full-time missionaries in the country. We took them for a morning run. Cheryl who has been running much faster now that she puts in more miles each week was able to easily keep up with the group. This is a picture of the sunrise. Going from left to right is Sister Hanson, Elder Evans, sister Subandriyo and president Subandriyo. Presidents Subandriyo is the new interim Mission president until a permanent one starts in July of this year. Our previous Mission president, president Rowley was transferred to a church assignment in Malaysia Because they are all high-ranking Church officials we only eat at the best restauran

We knew this was going to happen sooner or later. With only four members in our group this was the Sunday that no one showed up.  One of the members was out of town. Another had to work. The other two just couldn't make it. Out of respect for the Sabbath day we held Services anyway. Cheryl was the speaker. I blessed and passed the sacrament. Actually it ended up being a nice service. We're always impressed with the spirit that attends our humble meetings. When it rains here it never sprinkles or drizzles it's always a cloudburst. It usually rains for about 20 to 30 minutes and then it stops. Occasionally it'll rain longer and everything gets flooded. After it rains the clouds usually clear up and it's sunny. Our meals are starting to get a little bit boring. There is not much variety here. All we have for sandwiches is tuna fish or peanut butter and jelly. We were fortunate and able to buy some lettuce so we had a salad. This doesn't happen very often. W

Our Visa requires us to leave the country every 3 months. We have to fly to an airport and then fly back and reenter the country. Because of the distances and flight schedules involved we have to stay at least one night. The mission is very kind and allows us to stay two nights.  This is the Dili airport in Timor-leste. The runway is off to the right.   Fortunately Jets can land at our Airport. There are three different airlines that service the airport. None of which have I ever heard of before. We fly to the nearest major airport which is Bali. The flight is beautiful. There are many small islands that we go over and the clouds are always spectacular.  Our room in Bali was amazing. Perhaps the nicest I've ever stayed in. A nice glass enclosed shower. The patio had a side sitting area that was private. The wall coverings and Furniture were all very rich. It was in the offseason so the price was only $75 a night Included in the hotel price was a complimentary breakf

 The sunrise is actually behind us to the East and this is a photo of the early Sun on the clouds in the West  As Cheryl was opening the upper kitchen cupboard it came loose from the wall and fell down onto the sink and microwave. All of the contents then spilled Out onto the floor and unfortunately onto her foot. One glass jar hit right on her toe and another hit on the middle of the top of her foot. Fortunately a day later now her foot is very colorful but she is able to walk on it. We are hoping for a complete recovery soon. The biggest problem was the bottle of vegetable oil that spilt onto the floor. Even though we've mop the floor couple times there's still residue on the floor. We had an office day today so I was dressed in my casual non missionary clothes.

We visited a humanitarian partner called CNR. They provide wheelchairs, walkers and Canes to the disabled. They also make prosthesis and customize and repair wheelchairs. They are a remarkable organization. Were it not for them these people would not have the resources or the availability to receive help. All of the services here are free of charge to the poor This is a little girl who had a birth defect. They created a custom wheelchair for her. We had a prior humanitarian project with them. These are the walkers and mattresses that we provided. This is a dorm where mothers stay with their daughters while they're receiving physical therapy and being fitted for a wheelchair or an artificial limb. The mattresses that we provided will replace the old ones in the dorm This man received an artificial leg and is being trained in it's care and use. Because artificial limbs are each unique they have to be custom-made here. They have a machine shop that creat