I was able to wake up early enough to go on the “walk”. Now our Mom and Dad have been very healthy for as long as I remember going on almost daily walks. Dad no longer “walks” he runs! He says that when he comes home he wants to run a marathon. Mitzi, he said that you are going to send him a training schedule. They do their walk/run on the beach. This was a beautiful beach. It wasn’t as aqua colored as the Caribbean beaches, but still bluer than So. Cal. The waves were beautiful and long. As we are almost on the Equator, the waves come straight in, unlike CA where they come in at an angle. I had to jump in as it was too beautiful to pass up. The water was so warm! It was after I got in and we were walking back to the car that Mom told me a story of a member family that their older son went to the beach one day and never returned. They don’t know if it was from drowning or being attacked on the beach. See Mom's post for photos and video.
After the beach we went home and showered for the day. Today was pay day or soutien. Dad goes to the bank and then gives the Elders their money. More about this later as we haven’t delivered the money yet.
Today was our shopping or Marche’ day. We went to 2 stores that were like grocery stores; don’t picture an Albertsons in Northwood more like a grocery store you would find in the heart of Santa Ana. We bought some pork chops to make for the Elders. Mom cooks for the Elders every p-day which is tomorrow. Why we went to 2 stores is one had better meat products and one was cheaper for the everyday type things.
After the grocery stores we went to pick up the mail and it was very exciting because there was a piece of paper in the mailbox that said that we had a package! Carrie had sent 2 packages together on the same day and it said “Box 1 of 2 and box 2 of 2” Well box 1 of 1 arrived about a month ago. Box 2 came today! It was very exiting! When they pick up the box they have to pay a handling fee and a customs fee. The handling fee is kind of like a rental or service charge for accepting the box, kinda like you are paying mailboxes ect. The customs fee is supposed to be a fee that the government takes for importing the goods to the Congo. The first couple of boxes Mom and Dad received the guy wrote it down in his ledger. The last couple he just smiles and says, “The minimum” and he doesn’t write it down. Wonder where that goes?
Next came the GRAND MARCHE! Boy oh boy was it GRAND. There was TONS and TONS of aisles. It was somewhat Pikes Market, somewhat swap meet, somewhat garage sale, somewhat Goodwill clearance but all on an Africa level. It had close aisles and aisles of fish, ell, veggies, and chicken right on the counter. It was all good at the beginning. After about 30 minutes, I was getting sick and needed some fresh air. We walked out and I went to go take a breath of fresh air, only to find a HUGE pile of garbage. More on the garbage later….
Have you ever wondered where the items go that are never sold at Goodwill? Wonder no further, they have a happy home here in Africa. There are so many (beaucoup) people selling these type of things. Dad isn’t sure how they get here or who is the middle man is but that is where they get a lot of their clothes. It is funny to see what we are used to being on girls on these manly boys. At our FHE from the first night, the little boy who was Denim’s age, had purple tights with pink flowers. The 12 year old boy we taught yesterday had an LA gear v-neck shirt with gap overalls.
The Grand Marche’ had many aisles of this type of clothing. They also have a lot of hair places. Their hair is a big deal as there are so many beauty salons called coiffure. When I say so many, we are talking like how many doughnut shops are in Times Square, New York. We bought me a pair of sunglasses, Dillon a Congo soccer shirt, 2 fun clips for my hair, chicken (poulet), and ground beef.
The chicken and beef were bought inside a butchers shop. It was so clean compared to the outside aisles.
After the grand marchet’ we went to a visiting teaching meeting at one of the Relief Society councilors home. It is so cute to see Mom teaching what Visiting Teaching is. You know the saying, you need to walk before you run, well, the church here is learning to stand before they can walk…they are far from running. That is why Mom and Dad are here. They are teaching these sweet people the basics of the church. They never had primary till Mom got it started. She was so happy to see the church curriculum arrive with the primary sharing time outlines.
We just got home. Tonight’s dinner is BBQ chicken. I offered to help Mom but she told me to go work on the blog.
We just got home again. We were all set to have a nice relaxing night at home, anyone who can believe that, stand on their head. As I was finishing up this post, Dad said, the sunset looks like it will be a good one, let’s go to the beach to watch the sunset. Although they said it wasn’t that great of a sunset it was still a pretty picture!
Today was our shopping or Marche’ day. We went to 2 stores that were like grocery stores; don’t picture an Albertsons in Northwood more like a grocery store you would find in the heart of Santa Ana. We bought some pork chops to make for the Elders. Mom cooks for the Elders every p-day which is tomorrow. Why we went to 2 stores is one had better meat products and one was cheaper for the everyday type things.
After the grocery stores we went to pick up the mail and it was very exciting because there was a piece of paper in the mailbox that said that we had a package! Carrie had sent 2 packages together on the same day and it said “Box 1 of 2 and box 2 of 2” Well box 1 of 1 arrived about a month ago. Box 2 came today! It was very exiting! When they pick up the box they have to pay a handling fee and a customs fee. The handling fee is kind of like a rental or service charge for accepting the box, kinda like you are paying mailboxes ect. The customs fee is supposed to be a fee that the government takes for importing the goods to the Congo. The first couple of boxes Mom and Dad received the guy wrote it down in his ledger. The last couple he just smiles and says, “The minimum” and he doesn’t write it down. Wonder where that goes?
Next came the GRAND MARCHE! Boy oh boy was it GRAND. There was TONS and TONS of aisles. It was somewhat Pikes Market, somewhat swap meet, somewhat garage sale, somewhat Goodwill clearance but all on an Africa level. It had close aisles and aisles of fish, ell, veggies, and chicken right on the counter. It was all good at the beginning. After about 30 minutes, I was getting sick and needed some fresh air. We walked out and I went to go take a breath of fresh air, only to find a HUGE pile of garbage. More on the garbage later….
Have you ever wondered where the items go that are never sold at Goodwill? Wonder no further, they have a happy home here in Africa. There are so many (beaucoup) people selling these type of things. Dad isn’t sure how they get here or who is the middle man is but that is where they get a lot of their clothes. It is funny to see what we are used to being on girls on these manly boys. At our FHE from the first night, the little boy who was Denim’s age, had purple tights with pink flowers. The 12 year old boy we taught yesterday had an LA gear v-neck shirt with gap overalls.
The Grand Marche’ had many aisles of this type of clothing. They also have a lot of hair places. Their hair is a big deal as there are so many beauty salons called coiffure. When I say so many, we are talking like how many doughnut shops are in Times Square, New York. We bought me a pair of sunglasses, Dillon a Congo soccer shirt, 2 fun clips for my hair, chicken (poulet), and ground beef. 
The chicken and beef were bought inside a butchers shop. It was so clean compared to the outside aisles.
After the grand marchet’ we went to a visiting teaching meeting at one of the Relief Society councilors home. It is so cute to see Mom teaching what Visiting Teaching is. You know the saying, you need to walk before you run, well, the church here is learning to stand before they can walk…they are far from running. That is why Mom and Dad are here. They are teaching these sweet people the basics of the church. They never had primary till Mom got it started. She was so happy to see the church curriculum arrive with the primary sharing time outlines.
We just got home. Tonight’s dinner is BBQ chicken. I offered to help Mom but she told me to go work on the blog.
We just got home again. We were all set to have a nice relaxing night at home, anyone who can believe that, stand on their head. As I was finishing up this post, Dad said, the sunset looks like it will be a good one, let’s go to the beach to watch the sunset. Although they said it wasn’t that great of a sunset it was still a pretty picture! 
Amy, I know you are probably exhausted but these are SO wonderful to hear an "outsiders" point on their mission to record all the little details that have quickly become part of their daily routine! Please keep writing!
ReplyDeleteDitto to what Lani said! And what a darling photo of them on the beach holding hands. Keep up the good work! Also encourage them to write in a journal like this each day if the internet is too slow and frustrating. They tell us stories over the phone that I never see here. For example the day they got robbed TWICE!
ReplyDeleteI think the running a marathon thing is awesome. I'm not a runner, but I just signed up for a 5K in March and a 10K in April.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that last picture. They are so cute.
Thanks Amy for sharing your experiences.
I'm not pregnant and I could almost smell the market when you described it. I see Ed is wearing his RED socks in the last picture. That wasn't on my son's approved missionary attire! Great to be a senior missionary! And not all of us get to talk to them so yes, tell all on the blogs. We are reading so keep posting.
ReplyDelete