We had some extra time so we went to the movies. One more person did later join us in the theater. We saw the new Mary Poppins movie. It was actually pretty good. It is a modern movie theater. Tickets were $3 each. On the weekends they go up to $6 each.
In the country there are four Burger King franchises. The food actually taste better then in America I think. Prices are probably about 20% more than in America which makes me wonder how anyone in this country could afford to eat here. At least half of the people we see in the restaurant are foreigners. There are no other fast food franchises in the nation.
In the morning everybody water the street. It doesn't matter if it's dirt or pavement. It doesn't matter if you have a hose or just a bucket. We can't figure out the purpose of it. Especially in this country where water is scarce.
On Wednesday we had a visit from a cruise ship. We could see the lifeboats actively tendering the passengers to and from the docks. It was a Holland American cruise ship sailing from Singapore. It brought back memories of our former lives. We used to leave a cruise for shore excursions and wonder what the people in these third world countries did and what their lives were like. Now we know
Water finally started to flow down the main river. It's still just a fraction of what it was last year this time.
This is most of the family that is investigating the church. Up until now they have been getting the missionary lessons via Skype from Indonesia during our Sunday services. The missionaries wanted to teach them a second time during the week so we brought our computer and we had a lesson in there home on Thursday.
They are probably an average to above-average Timorese family economically for a family that lives in Dili. Compared with the rest of the country they would probably be in the top 10% income wise. He works as a guard for the presidential Palace and she has her own business selling small cakes to the local school. Their house had no screens on the windows. There are two bedrooms for the family of 7. All of the rooms in the house only have curtains instead of doors. The kitchen was in an adjoining structure outside the home. Cooking Is done on an open fire with a pot. They do have a refrigerator and running water. They have a bathroom where the toilet has to be manually filled with a bucket. There is no air conditioning. The electrical wiring is draped on nails throughout the structure and is very primitive. The floor is concrete. In the living room they have plastic sheeting over the floor as a covering.
Except for the two youngest children, that are not in the picture, they all speak 3 languages, Tetun, Bahasa and now English. They are a very studious family with remarkable work habits. They have family prayer every night. They read the scriptures together as a family everyday. Education is a very high priority. The mother, Dominguez gets up at 3 in the morning, every morning and does her baking for her cake sales. Every day she bakes enough for $10 in sales. Each cake cost $0.25.
Each week the investigator families two younger children attend primary with Cheryl. They don't speak English so communication is difficult. Cheryl always struggles to teach them something of value during primary. To our surprise decorating the walls of their front room were several of the primary class activities.
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