Bien Venidos

About two weeks into our mission, we received our car and our apartment was mostly finished!
We were excited to finally be able to accomplish the assignments we were given by the President!
The first day in our apartment, we discovered that we had no gas to warm water for a shower or to be able to cook on the stove! So, back to the mission home we went. You can see the President's reaction when we rang the doorbell!

  

After a few days, the problem was solved and we were able to move back to our apartment. 

People have been asking to see what our apartment looks like, so here are some pictures from the beginning 'til now. We didn't have a mirror and one day we found it behind the door to the den! Wonder why it's there?

 Our bedroom and the furniture are very nice and adequate. We sleep comfortably at night. We even have shades that block the sun that beats down in the afternoon, which helps keep the apartment cool!

The living room includes the dining room table and chairs, which is very nice. Our couches are leather and the rug looks like a Persian rug, but it only cost $52 at a neighborhood store!!

 The kitchen is very small. Washing dishes is quite a task. We have VERY LITTLE cupboard space, as well. We are expecting a built in cupboard to be delivered (which just happened, as we speak!).

The den is rather small and only room for one person, so the living room is also used for study.

View from the living room toward the bathroom and bedrooms and den. The other bedroom houses our ironing board, vacuum, and storage!



 The garage is pretty secure for our mission car--a Nissan Versa.

Here are two views showing the approach to our home and coming through the garage doors. Pretty secure place!

The laundry room is outside -- the middle of our apartment!! When it rains, the appliances get wet!

Another experience we have daily that we have to get used to is traffic, at least we drive on the side of the road we're used to!!  However, the traffic is hectic and very stressful, with large and small buses, taxis, trucks, passenger cars, vendors and everyone in a hurry!! We know that the angels are watching over us because we've had some narrow misses on the roads. In some cases, signs are missing that direct the traffic (everyone else except us seems to know when the traffic is one-way or two-way). We've gotten lost, too, several times. Luckily, we have map books with which we can usually find our way home (or call President Reeves for help)!

 Traffic bumps, called topes, are frequently used throughout the city to control traffic speeds.

Last week we traveled with President and Sister Reeves and the Assistants through parts of the mission to learn how to find the ward and stake centers, to help the new mission president, who comes in three weeks.

 It's the rainy season and so we have lots of thunderstorms and the saying "when it rains, it pours" is a very true statement here. There is a lot of flooding and the dirt streets are a mess, but the rain keeps it green and lush here. Temperatures are very mild. It does get quite warm sometimes, but it's lovely!