Hey Everyone
Jesse and I have been busy out of our minds. It’s not a bad thing but it has kept us from some of our school work. We have been finishing up with our tutor he had to go back to school on the other side of the country. Thank Dad for all the times we manage to share with him and the book we were able to leave him with. Hopefully the book can answer some of his questions. Please continue to talk to Dad about him. A funny story about our tutor is that we took him to a more tourist spot in the city where we can get some western food if we are crazing it. Our tutor is kind of skinny, but that did not keep him from eating a monster of a burger. The funny part is I did not even finish all off mine.
We have also been preparing to switch our visas from tourist to students, so we can go to school here. Dad has really blessed me in particular, because the student visas get here the day we start classes and my tourist visa expires two days after that. I am very thankful about Fathers timing. In preparing for the application to go to the school we had to get tested for HIV and needed our livers checked. Each person was responsible for making sure the nurse used a clean needle, and writing your name on the tube of your blood. Of course I got a little light headed after having my blood drawn and needed to have a seat for a while. We were told to return on Monday to get the results. When we went back they only gave us the liver test, so tomorrow we are going back again to try to find the results to our HIV test.
My parents came to visit me and Jesse this week. We took them all over town to the area that we do the majority of our work, to the village where we did our home stay, and had them climb the small mountain close to where we live. One day Jesse left my parents and me to do some home work, as I showed them around town. We came by the apartment to pick Jesse up for dinner. Apparently he had been locked out. I realized I had left my key inside as well. No one has a key besides us, there are no locksmiths, and the whole door is one big metal lock. We had to call someone to break our window and then replace it the next day. Oh yeah we live on the fifth floor of the building. Dad was defiantly watching that guys back. We made sure to give a key to our land lady and SV.
On the weird food topic the only thing I have had recently that most westerners don’t like is stinky tofu. I was out with our tutor for lunch. He wanted to take me to a place close to a park to eat. We got a variety of fried foods potatoes, mushrooms, ect. The tofu came out and he was explaining what the meaning of the name was. It literally translates “smelly tofu, because the smell is not so great”. I had heard that this was one of the worst foods hear from some of the other westerners, but to be honest it was not that bad.
In the part of town where we do most of our work we are working hard to build relationships with the people. One day we went out there with our SV to talk to some of the teacher at a elementary school about teaching English, and to talk to the local government about doing a health clinic in the area. They gave us permission to do whatever we needed to help the people. The clinic will be the center of our work here. Please talk to Dad about us meeting people that will be excepting of our message.
Your Brother, Justin