So Much Going On

There is so very much going on in our lives that I find it difficult to journal it all.  I don't feel inspired to share everything about our mission, and we both post a lot of pictures on Facebook because it is easier than doing it on our blog.

We have now entered the long hot Cypriot summer season, so we will complain vehemently about it.  Summer in Cyprus is nearly unbearable.  We stay indoors and avoid the heat as much as possible.  At the end of each day I feel like I have taken a bath in Kool-Aid.  (You remember spilling it n the floor as a kid and it stayed sticky for a week even though you washed the floor thoroughly?)

Our work takes us to the north most days, and we travel so much in doing this.  We have students/members who are very isolated from the church because they cannot cross the border and enter the south to attend with us.  For them our visits are crucial, since they have no other contact with the church.

We are friends with them on Facebook and we have Skype sessions with them as well.  But it's not the same as participating in church meetings and activities.  We all long for the day when an agreement is arranged to allow the missionaries to freely proselyte in the north.  We are fairly certain this will not happen in our time here, and now we only have six months left of our mission, so we aren't certain if we are making an impact - just to leave abruptly.  This is the hard part.  We love all our members of the church, and we are particularly drawn to those in the north because of their inability to fellowship with all the saints here on the Island.

There is the dilemma - the fact of the short time we have here.  We'd need to stay a lifetime to really finish the work, but we are only called for a very short period of time.

Below are pictures of camels that we visited as a Zone activity a couple of weeks ago.  Interesting.

The camels were shedding their warm winter fur, and their coats looked like when sheep are sheared.

These are dromedary camels, so they only have one hump.  I was not adventurous enough to ride them, although other senior couples did.

I trust all is well at home.  We are excited that our grandson Josh left today for the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center), where he will live for the next nine weeks as he is trained to speak Mandarin Chinese. He will be serving in Calgary, Canada among the Chinese people, we are very pleased he has accepted this call, and we know he will excel in the work.

Our daughter Ramona made this wonderful missionary shirt and tie cake for Josh's farewell.  He is pictured here with seven of his siblings who are very pleased for his example to them.  He certainly has a large cheering section at home.

We know God will bless him in his work in teaching and preaching the Gospel in Calgary among our Chinese brothers and sisters.