The Trapani's in Timor Leste

We were invited by the US Embassy to tour the US Navy troop transport ship called the Fall River. It was in dock for a humanitarian project in the region. It brought supplies, technicians and Navy medical personnel. The ship is only a few years old. It is made of aluminum so it is very fast and very light. It has a maximum speed of 50 miles an hour. It can carry about 350 personnel. It also has a very large equipment deck. It felt like being on a cruise ship inside. It had a nice big kitchen. It had comfortable lounging chairs. Everything was new and well-built. Of course all the personel inside we're all US citizens. It felt like we were back on our own soil. Even though it is a Navy ship it is operated by a private Merchant Marine company. It was docked at the Port of dili for a few hours to unload and to give tours. Because the port can only accommodate a couple of ships it had to go back out to sea and wander around to clear up the dock after the tour. The ship will be he

The missionaries are now teaching Janu and Zelia in our apartment. The challenge is that Zelia only speaks Tetun. So the missionaries speak in English and Janu translated into Tetun.  Because the missionaries are speaking in English Cheryl and I can participate.  Like most Timorese couples they are living together without being officially married. Weddings are complicated here. Once they get that taken care of at least Janu will join the church very quickly. We have had Janu and Zelia and some of their neighbors as well as Domingas and her family over to go swimming. The problem is no one knows how to swim. Everyone stays in the shallow area. In this country there are very few lakes and most of the rivers are very shallow. The ocean is very shallow for a long distance and so no one swims. Most of the people are afraid to go too deep in the ocean because of the crocodiles. There are very few swimming pools here and so no one knows how to swim. I am a member of the United States

This week we had the midterm test for all of our English classes. The only reason we give the test is that the students want it. I think it makes then feel that the course is legitimate and has value. Test day is always the best attended class. This is a picture of one of the three rooms we had filled with students. We went to Bali this week for our semi annual senior missionary conference. Bali is such a great vacation destination. This super hamburger, fries and a smoothie came to less than $5. The conference was much more of a vacation than a conference. Most of the time we spend sightseeing and just hanging out at the beach. It was hard to return back to Timor-leste. This is a close-up of the sand on the beach. The holes are the boroughs of small crabs and the little balls of sand are the sand that they had dug out. It was all over the beach. These are all the senior missionaries and the mission president and his wife. We attended a Hindu play which required that

We had our mid-term field trip for our English classes. Transportation was by two trucks. The first was a smaller truck with boards across the bed for the students to sit on. The second truck was a full size dump truck with no seating at all. Everyone just squished in the back. In addition we had about 20 people ride their own motorcycles. We always hold our breath that no one gets hurt. This is the usual and customary transportation in this country. Our teaching assistant had an old car that luckily Cheryl and I got to ride in. This is the place where we had our activity. It is a large Catholic School. One of our students was a former student here. The place had a large Athletic Field, an outdoor Gathering area, a soccer field, dorms and classrooms. We were able to meet in the outdoor meeting area which fortunately had many trees and was well shaded. This is us when we first arrived. We were rested. We did not leave that way. This is Janu who is are teaching assistan