Fun times

The electricity has been horrible lately, so not going to try to post pictures as it takes a while to upload them and don't want to risk having the power go out half-way through.

Last night we went to "Movie Night" up at the MK school. The Senior class was doing a fund raiser - selling pop corn and American candy (yeah!!!) and drinks and showed "Toy Story 3." It was the first movie night we've been to.... what a fun thing! There were TONS of kids - all in PJ's and with blankets and pillows spread out all over the floor and then chairs set up for adults in the back of the big MPR room - there were probably 200+ plus people and no one had seen the movie yet. The boys were SO excited. We let them each pick out a candy from the candy table and get a bag of popcorn... I think the whole evening set us back $3. :)

It's hard to describe the missionary community here and the precarious balance we face daily in living our lives as members of the misisonary community and also as missionaries to the national people..... being so isolated and in such a foreign culture, we need our fellow ex-pats for encouragement - and medical help and tips on how to make home-made yogurt and use a pressure cooker! And yet, we came here to reach the national people - which is a really hard, discouraging task at times and puts you in a lot of uncomfortable situations. Living in our new neighborhood we spend a LOT of time with the national people and so we really relish our interactions with our missionary friends.

The missoinary community here is unique - there are probably 300ish missionaries (counting kids) here in town, and though that may seem like a lot, it's a pretty small world.... like living in a tiny town in America.... you know everything about everyone and your struggles, faults, victories... all on clear display to everyone. People know way more more about each other than in America just because of our situation... medical issues, financial issues, etc - all common topics of conversation as we navigate this weird life here. The great thing though, is people look out for each others' kids and the kids have a great network and a very large family... it's a very safe, comfortable enviornment for the MK's. There's not much to do for fun around here so people spend a lot of time just talking with each other, eating dinner together, playing games, watching movies together - life is a lot simpler and slower than in America. Seeing it last night - laughing with everyone as we watched "Toy Story" and watching people get excited about M&Ms and Skittles and seeing the older MK's playing and taking care of their younger siblings - made me veyr thankful for the enviornment my kids are growing up in.

It's very hard having our kids away from their grandparents and missing family so much, so thankful for fun times that remind us that there are some major perks to living over here. We had to wait 3 months to get to see Toy Story, but we got to enjoy it with a whole bunch of friends (and Rolos and Gobstoppers!)