NO LONGER HOMELESS

Today we attended church for our second time here.  I (Russell) was wondering if the quiet reverence we experienced in the chapel last week was abnormal.  It was similarly reverent today.  The members are typical to anywhere else in the world in that they love greeting and conversing with each other before and after church meetings.  However, in the chapel it is quiet.  I think it is partially because there is a door that remains shut between the church foyer and the chapel.  People converse in the foyer and halls but not once they enter the chapel.  I wonder if at home, in our effort to make our meetings inviting to everyone, we keep all four doors to the chapel open.  This may lead to a lack of clear delineation within the church building between where we converse with one another and where we worship. 

Today is Sister Gibson’s birthday.  She is a single sister serving as the mission secretary.  She has served two prior missions, one in Salt Lake City at the Family History Center and one in Spain doing records preservation.  She is from Tasmania in Australia and knows the Barnards who we served with in Indonesia.  She also knows Chuck and Fran Molton, who she served with in Family History. 

Yesterday we moved into an apartment that we will call home for our tenure here.  It is a 12-story high-rise with two towers and another under construction.  It has a combination of one- and two-bedroom apartments.  The two-bedroom units, which I am working to have for each of the seniors working in the office, have between 45 and 50 square meters of floor space. 50 square meters equals 538 square feet.

It feels great to be able to have our things in closets and no longer living out of a suitcase.  By tomorrow I should have two other units (unfurnished) under contract and one week to get them ready for occupancy before the next couple arrive.  Both Eileen and I feel very grateful that we have been able to find accommodations which are safe, easy to find, with good access to shopping, near each other and only six kilometers from the office.  This is indeed a great blessing. 

Eileen has been very busy dealing with the health challenges of our missionaries.  I have been impressed at how quickly she has got up to speed with her new role.  She does love the young missionaries and being a nurse. 

I am at the office right now since we have yet to get internet in within our apartment.  Outside it is raining hard, accompanied by thunder and lightning.  I took a picture of some kids showering off in the street. My car is also getting a free washing.

Sister Gibson with her birthday cake